Saturday, September 12, 2009 Step One Early Intervention had it's Family Day celebration with the Ribbon Cutting and Dedication ceremony of the Mollie Hirshberg Learning Center. Approximately 250 people showed up despite the rain. The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony took place inside the building with speeches by Harry Shulman, President/CEO South Shore Mental Health; Sandra Slavet, South Shore Mental Health Chair of the Board of Directors; and Lois Hirshberg, daughter of Mollie. "Mollie was a vigorous advocate for educational and health services for children," said Harry Shulman. As a member of the Board of Directors of South Shore Mental Health, Mollie was committed to supporting programs that focus on families and the needs of their children. She was very proud of the Step One Early Intervention Program. Mollie Hirshberg died in 1991.
Pictured above from left to right: Cindy Warren, Director Step One Early Intervention; Marie Strazzulla; Denise Daley; Brian McNamee, Quincy City Councilor; Kevin Coughlin, Quincy City Councilor; Harry Shulman, President/CEO South Shore Mental Health; Mayor Thomas Koch; Douglas Gutro, Quincy City Councilor; Vinita and Emma Russell, Step One family.
South Shore Mental Health has opened a new satellite clinic, North River Associates on Route 139 in Marshfield on April 1, 2009. Many of you may be familiar with the outstanding reputation of North River Counseling, which is a 20+ clinician practice, with an expertise in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). DBT combines standard cognitive behavioral techniques for emotion regulation and reality-testing with concepts of mindful awareness, distress tolerance, and acceptance largely derived from Bhuddist meditative practice. DBT is the first therapy that has been experimentally demonstrated to be effective for treating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
We are fortunate to have the opportunity to recruit and hire all of the staff, and to lease the building. This allows for continuity of care for current clients, as the clinician/client relationships remain intact.
All of the clinicians and staff will become employees of South Shore Mental Health. We expect the existing North River clients to continue to receive care at the site. While the Marshfield clinic will continue to operate under the North River name at this time, it will become part of the Bayview family of clinics. As we get closer to April 1 we will communicate further details about the new site, hours, contact information and services to be offered.
Please join me in welcoming the staff of our new Marshfield site to the South Shore Mental Health family.