Riverside Community Care: News

Riverside Life Skills School Opens

In early February, Joy Burghardt, Director of Educational Services for Riverside, began talking to area school district administrators about their special education programs and, specifically, what types of students they were having difficulty serving. Six weeks, 15 public school districts and two collaboratives later, a number of common themes had emerged. Although her discussions with school personnel touched on a variety of special education needs, it became apparent to Joy that most of the districts felt particularly challenged by efforts to serve adolescents with significant mental health issues.

Many of these students were having difficulty in traditional public school settings. Some had trouble handling a full-day schedule or the academic pressure to succeed. Others had behavioral issues that resulted in disciplinary action. Side effects of the medication taken to treat their illness often caused extreme fatigue – making it close to impossible to get to school by the opening bell. Additionally, mental health crises often resulted in many weeks, if not months, of school absences.

The result was that many students struggling with the symptoms of mental illness found themselves falling far behind in their school work, having trouble catching up and in danger of dropping out. School districts were trying to meet their students’ needs while dealing with the realities of limited financial resources. At Riverside, Joy Burghardt’s mandate was to work on the development of innovative and cost effective alternatives for public school districts.

The first initiative in this effort, the Riverside Life Skills School, is now open on Highland Avenue in Needham. It is a short-term academic program designed to provide an intensive therapeutic and academic environment for middle and high school students. The program is an expanded offering from our successful Life Skills day treatment program that has been providing high quality mental health services for adolescents for fifteen years. The school, which will operative year round, will afford students attending the Life Skills day program, and others referred by their schools, the opportunity to continue to earn academic credit while working on their emotional issues.

Riverside’s extensive expertise providing solutions to an array of emotional and behavioral problems experienced by students, which can interfere with their ability to learn, makes Joy Burghardt very optimistic that the Life Skills School can provide an important component in a student’s successful transition to more traditional academic settings.

We look forward to helping students “make the grade” for many years to come

Ivy League Acceptance:

Riverside Provides Services to Harvard

This September, Riverside’s Emergency Services Team in Norwood, began its sophomore year providing after hours mental health coverage for Harvard University. In an agreement with the university’s Behavioral Health Services, Riverside clinicians respond to the needs of the Harvard community Monday through Thursday from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The issues that Riverside’s team confronts range from anxiety and school pressure, to serious mental health issues. Not surprisingly, anxiety-related concerns tend to peak around exam times. Emergency Services clinicians respond either face-to-face or by telephone, depending on the student’s needs. More serious mental health issues are followed up with referrals to ongoing mental health treatment.

Kate O’Connell, Director of Riverside Emergency Services at Norwood, says that, in general, the issues the Riverside clinicians see at Harvard tend to be situational and student-related, rather than the chronic mental health problems that they see more frequently in the larger community. It is not uncommon for a clinician to be offering strategies and techniques by phone at 3 a.m. to a student struggling to complete a term paper. While this situation might not seem to rise to the level of a “crisis,” school pressure can be incredibly intense at one of the world’s most prestigious universities.

Riverside garnered excellent grades in our first year of this collaboration. Feedback from Harvard has been extremely positive and we look forward to another successful year.

Massachusetts Families Organizing for Change Joins Riverside

Through a contract granted by the Department of Mental Retardation, Massachusetts Families Organizing for Change (MFOFC) has become part of Riverside’s Developmental and Cognitive Disabilities Division. MFOFC, a statewide, grassroots coalition of individuals with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses and their families, is dedicated to helping families develop the skills necessary to advocate, and make choices, on their own behalf.

Susan Nadworney, Director for MFOFC, says that all of the program’s efforts are aimed at strengthening participating families so that their disabled and/or chronically ill members can continue to live in their homes and communities. The program offers conferences, workshops and forums and publishes a quarterly newsletter crammed with information on social and educational opportunities in the community.

Upcoming events sponsored by MFOFC include a one-day conference aimed at families of transition age young adults, ages 14 and beyond. Also scheduled is a three-weekend Leadership Series covering topics such as creating positive change and developing networks with other families and professionals. Participants will learn how to advocate successfully for the services they need in a variety of settings: to their legislators, within their own families, in the schools and the maze of human service agencies.

Riverside Receives Highest Accreditation from CARF

Riverside has been awarded three-year accreditation by the CARF, an international accreditation organization for healthcare and rehabilitation facilities. The organization accredited Riverside’s Administration and its Career Services Programs for individuals with mental illness. Three-year accreditation is the maximum time period that CARF awards.

In the letter notifying Riverside of the accreditation, Brian J. Boon, President/CEO of CARF, stated, “This achievement is an indication of your organization’s dedication and commitment to improving the quality of the lives of the persons served. Services, personnel, and documentation clearly indicate an established pattern of practice excellence.” In particular, Riverside was acknowledged for the dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment of its board, executive management, direct care staff, and support staff. We were also commended for our leadership in local and statewide advocacy efforts, as well as our comprehensive system of fiscal management and controls.

In response to the CARF accreditation, Kathleen Janssen, Director of Quality Management for Riverside, exclaimed, “I am just so proud of the hard work by the staff at the programs. As evidenced by CARF’s report and our own internal outcome management systems, our clients are meeting their educational and career goals.”

R-T.E.A.M. Honored for Innovative Practice

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts, Inc. (MHSACM) honored Riverside’s R-T.E.A.M with a Special Award for Team Innovative Practice at its annual Provider Celebration. MHSACM is a statewide organization representing close to ninety community-based behavioral healthcare provider organizations. Vic DiGravio, MHSACM President/CEO, said the R-T.E.A.M. (Riverside Team Enhancement Action Model) was being recognized for the way in which they work together to “ensure that vulnerable individuals receive the high quality care necessary to live and thrive in the community.”

The R-T.E.A.M. was developed to make certain that individuals with mental illness receiving a number of different services would receive care that is both integrated and coordinated. Additionally, the R-T.E.A.M model works to ensure that the people served play a critical role in the development of their own recovery goals.

A number of members of Riverside’s Wellness/Recovery & Empowerment Committee have been busy orienting Department of Mental Health and Riverside Staff to this new approach. The trainers include Nancy Ritz, Newton Outpatient Center Office Manager, Steve Goldman, Certified Peer Specialist at the Norwood and Upton Day Treatment programs, and Senior Managers Dallas Gulley, Don Hughes, and Elizabeth Whitney. Presentations have already been made to the Central Massachusetts North Grafton, Metro North, and Metro Southwest Suburban offices of the Department of Mental Health.