Outpatient Mental Health Services for Children

At Cambridge Health Alliance, we understand that raising a family is more challenging than ever. Both parents and children must balance the demands of school, work, family, and friends - with fewer resources to help children cope with today's fast-paced world. Our expert staff of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Nurse Clinical Specialists, and Social Workers, have extensive training in the mental health of children and teenagers, and many serve as faculty at Harvard Medical School.

CHA offers a number of outpatient programs to help children of all ages and backgrounds reach their fullest potential. Our general mental health program for children, the Child Ambulatory Service, provides state-of-the-art evaluation and treatment for children and teens including individual and family treatment, medication management (psychopharmacology), cognitive-behavioral therapy, as well as pediatric neurology, neuropsychological testing, and group therapy programs.

Common reasons why families come to us for help:

- Divorce in the family - Family conflict and arguments - Poor grades in school - Drug or alcohol use - Sudden change in friends/activities     - Chronic illness in the family - Disobedience or aggression - Theft or vandalism

- Childhood fears, anxiety, or depression - Low self-esteem - Withdrawal from family/friends - Sudden weight loss/gain - Body image issues - Frequent unexplained anger or aggression   - Self-injury or self destructive behavior - Threats to run away

Our Services:

Child & Adolescent Mental Health Clinic. Located at the Macht Building on the Cambridge Hospital campus, these services focus on evaluation and treatment using individual and family psychotherapy and medication management.

School-Based Mental Health Services. We help children at our 3 Teen Health Centers (Cambridge Teen Health Center, Everett Teen Health Center, Somerville Teen Connection) and our Anna May Powers Center in Everett. CHA clinicians work with students, faculty, and families to support and enhance school performance by provide consultation, psychiatric services, medication management, and psychotherapy.

Integrated Primary Care/Behavioral Health Practices. CHA is developing a new collaborative model to provide mental health services to our young patients within the primary care setting. This is part of our continued strategy to offer coordinated care in Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Our mental health staff now work in our primary care sites providing assessment/treatment services as members of the extended team. CHA sites with child behavioral health clinicians are:

- Cambridge Pediatrics                     - Union Square Family Health
 
- Malden Family Medicine Center       - Broadway Health Center
 
- East Cambridge Health Center        - Revere Family Health Center

- Windsor Street Health Center


Specialty Programs. CHA has several specialty programs to meet the behavioral health needs of children and adolescents:

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clinic – these providers offer therapy and other clinical care using sign language and has a service dog trained in the unique needs of people with hearing loss. As part of this service, we provide clinical care at the Walden School for deaf children.

Developmental Neuropsychology – our understanding of brain functioning helps us identify and explain abilities/disabilities that affect a child’s learning, growth, and development.

Couples and Family Clinic - helping couples/families with a wide range of relationship problems.

Please note: Due to a high demand for our services, CHA is prioritizing appointments for patients who are either enrolled in Primary Care at CHA or are residents of our service area (Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop, MA). If you or your child do not meet these criteria, our staff may be able to assist you in finding a referral service.