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East Boston facility offering same-day mental health services, in particular for immigrant communities

By
Mallika Marshall, MD
Mallika Marshall, MD
Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has worked at WBZ-TV for more than 20 years.
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Mallika Marshall, MD

/ CBS Boston

Since the pandemic, the need for mental health services has skyrocketed and people have been forced to wait weeks or even months for help. In East Boston, a new facility is offering people help as soon as they need it.

At NeighborHealth in East Boston, they offer same-day emergency services for mental health.

"We help everyone who comes to our door, no matter what it is," said Tracey Weeden, the vice president and chief behavioral health officer at NeighborHealth.

Same-day mental health services

At the facility, it's nothing like a traditional emergency department, where many patients spend hours or even days waiting for help.

"Why would we say to a patient who's experiencing a mental health crisis to compete with patients who are there with gunshot wounds or cardiac arrest?" said Weeden. "We wouldn't and we shouldn't."

According to Weeden, the goal is to address the urgent needs of a diverse population, where many community members are facing uncertainty in the wake of federal agents taking undocumented immigrants into custody.

"They are hearing stories about their neighbors or their child's classmate who isn't showing up to school anymore...and so that has significant impact on someone's mental health."

"Obviously in the last months, there has been a lot of changes that has an impact on these communities," said clinical psychologist Nico Smiedniansky. "It's something that we can see on a day to day."

Smiedniansky is one of the many clinicians who offer a range of services, including counseling, therapy and crisis intervention, all available on the same day. All the services are also available in Spanish.

Demand for services up in immigrant communities

"We have seen the demand has only gone up and up and up," said Smiedniansky. "And I think this is because we are presenting something that obviously is not offered somewhere else."

The behavioral health urgent care is also attached to an emergency department, a pharmacy and a full suite of primary care services, including adult medicine and pediatrics.

"This is really the environment where we say come in, we want you. You are ours, we accept you, we embrace you," said Weeden.

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