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About HRS
Mission and Services
The Human Relations Service (HRS) is the private,
non-profit mental health agency serving families
and children in Wellesley, Weston, and Wayland. Our
mission is to treat, reduce, and prevent mental
illness. Our clinical service offers the
full range of outpatient diagnosis, treatment,
and crisis intervention.
HRS is the principal
provider of outpatient mental health services
in the three towns, delivering 6,000 hours
of treatment per year to more than 400 individuals
from nearly 200 families. We offer sliding
scale fees for clients whose visits are not covered
by insurance. Up to 30% of our clients
typically require such a reduction, and overwhelmingly,
these clients require substantial fee reductions. Our
consultation/education service offers over 1,200
hours of consultation to local schools and agencies
and education and support to parent and civic
groups. We also provide employee assistance
programs and counseling services to local college
students.
We are distinguished from comparable agencies
by both our size -- we are small; our commitment
-- our staff averages 12 years tenure at HRS
and is exceptionally familiar with, and devoted
to our towns; and our expertise -- we have
senior-level specialists in a wide range of problem
areas ranging from milder, situational stresses
to severe family and personal problems of all
kinds.
Governance
The agency is governed by a Board
of Trustees composed of residents of our three
towns. They
monitor program delivery and finances, decide
policy, foster community awareness and input
about agency services, and oversee planning. The
Board meets eight times between September and
June and conducts an annual Telethon to raise
contributions. Trustees make financial
gifts of their own and on their own (there is
not an explicit expected gift level). Over
this past year, the Board has become much more
active, and has begun planning a number of new
initiatives to strengthen the agency, notably
in the areas of community relations and development.
History
HRS was the first community mental health agency
in the nation—not the first facility to
treat psychiatric illness, but the first to adopt
the mental health of a community as its mission
and to provide systematic programs that foster
coping. It was founded in 1948 by Erich
Lindemann, M.D., and a group of local citizens
to apply the findings of Dr. Lindemann’s
pioneering research in the areas of psychosomatic
illness, grief, and crisis intervention. The
cornerstone of his work was the then novel notion
of prevention—that stress and suffering
could be reduced by strengthening the natural
bonds of family and community and the coping
skills of caregivers (pediatricians, clergy,
teachers), rather than waiting until problems
required treatment. Much that is now standard
in the treatment of grief, in crisis intervention,
and in the practice of community mental health
and consultation was developed at HRS by Lindemann
and his colleagues.
Looking Ahead: Strategy and Mission
Our future
is challenging. The need for
our specialties—high quality outpatient
treatment, early intervention, and prevention—has
never been greater. The mental health of
children and families deteriorates steadily as
social change and fragmentation pressure the
stability of family and community alike. However,
changes in public policy and in patterns of health
care and insurance make it harder for low and
moderate income families to find and afford the
services they need. The pressure on municipal
budgets has constrained and reduced our subsidy
base and the decline in reimbursement rates by
insurers has seriously affected our fee income. Funding
service to residents whose needs are growing
but who cannot afford the cost of care is an
immediate and long-term challenge. So,
too, is finding ways to reduce and prevent the
very need for treatment itself. We remain
vigorously committed to meeting these challenges,
and to fulfilling our mission to support the
health and well-being of the communities we
serve.
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