WEEK 4 · COMMUNITY
The help exists. Most families don’t know it’s there.
Wellesley has been shaken by a recent tragedy. We’re writing this to anyone who’s loved one lives with a mental illness. More help is available than you may be aware of.
Many of you may know a kind of a silent fear that never fully goes away. Sometimes you lay awake at night wondering what kind of day tomorrow will be. You feel dread and panic when the phone rings at an unusual hour. You know the exhaustion of holding things together while looking, to the outside world, like you’re fine.
You may also know what it’s like to not have reached out for help, even when your gut told you that you needed to. Families stay quiet for real reasons. Shame about something that isn’t shameful. The fear of being judged, or of seeing a loved one labeled. The fear of how the person you’re worried about will react if they learn you called. And the memory of a previous time you did reach out: the long hours in an emergency room, the clinician who didn’t seem to know what to do, and the loved one who came home from the hospital angrier than when they left. After enough of that, families learn to handle things on their own.
We want you to know that there are now real alternatives to the ER for mental health crises. They are free, regardless of insurance. They are staffed by trained clinicians, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. The care they offer is compassionate, evidence-based, and designed for the moments no family should face alone.
If you need help right now
Massachusetts has a free, around-the-clock line staffed by trained clinicians and certified peer specialists. It is not only for life-threatening emergencies. You can call about yourself, your child, a parent, or anyone you’re worried about — to get a real-time clinical read on what’s happening and a connection to the right care. Staff stay on the line with you until you’re connected.
Behavioral Health Help Line (BHHL)
• Call or text: 833-773-2445 — available 24/7, 365 days a year
• Online chat: masshelpline.com
• Free for all Massachusetts residents, including those without insurance
• Available in more than 200 languages
When it’s urgent but not 911
In Massachusetts, there is now an option for when things feel unmanageable but are not at the level of “call the police.” Community Behavioral Health Centers (CBHCs) were built for exactly for this middle ground. Riverside Community Care runs the CBHC that serves Wellesley, out of Norwood. You can walk in for routine care, urgent visits, or crisis support — and their crisis team is available 24/7. Crisis help can come to you, whether that’s at home, at school, or somewhere else in the community.
Riverside CBHC (serving Wellesley)
• 190 Lenox Street, Norwood, MA 02062
• Phone: 781-769-8670
• Walk-in and 24/7 crisis services, 365 days a year
• A real alternative to the emergency room for mental health and substance-use crises
After something hard happens
When a violent or sudden loss touches a school, a workplace, a team, or a neighborhood, the Riverside Trauma Center sends trained responders to help communities steady themselves. They provide on-site crisis response, grief support, and guidance for the people — teachers, managers, coaches, friends — who suddenly have to hold others up. They have trained more than a thousand responders across Massachusetts in Psychological First Aid.
Riverside Trauma Center
• On-site community response, grief counseling, and consultation after critical incidents
• Serves schools, workplaces, and communities across eastern and central Massachusetts
• Learn more: riversidecc.org
Why are we the ones telling you this?
Before founding Onto, Doug and Kerry spent years in this exact world. They lead the clinical design and implementation at Eliot Community Human Services’ Community Behavioral Health Centers, and both have been trained by the Riverside Trauma Center in Psychological First Aid and community crisis response.
And if we can ever help you find the right door, we are glad to — even if that door isn’t ours. That’s what neighbors do.