Brightside for Families & Children

 

Family Stabilization Team

Our mission is to heal. Our passion is to care.

What are Family Stabilization Team (FST) programs?

Many families and children seeking psychiatric services have needs that require a more intensive clinical intervention than traditional outpatient care is designed to provide.  Family Stabilization Team (FST) services are offered for children and families with urgent behavioral health needs which cannot be met with outpatient therapy.  FST services are especially designed for children and adolescents who are at risk for psychiatric hospitalization and home removal if problems persist or worsen.  FST is make up of teams of clinicians and case managers who provide outreach services to the home at least twice a week.  Brighside has one of the oldest and most recognized FST programs in Massachusetts.  Referrals can be made by families and any healthcare provider. Bilingual Spanish speaking staff are available.

FST at Brightside

The Brightside Family Stabilization Team is designed to be an intensive, therapeutic service to assist families in stabilizing children during a psychiatric crisis in the home setting.  It is designed to prevent initial or repeated hospitalizations by providing intensive, in-home clinical/behavioral services during psychiatric crisis, and by arranging successful linkage of the family and child to community support and outpatient providers.   Identified children range from age 3 to 18, and the types of families served include intact, single-parent, extended family, and long-term foster family systems.  The FST team is comprised of interdisciplinary and multicultural mental health, psychiatric, and paraprofessional clinicians.  Staff members are trained and knowledgeable about the environmental, cultural, and socio-economic stressors that affect the families served.  FST clients present with a wide range of mental health diagnoses, including ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance Abuse, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Dissociative and Psychotic Disorders, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Eating Disorders, Elimination Disorders, Anxiety/Panic and Reactive Attachment Disorders, Oppositional/Conduct Disorders, Pervasive Developmental Specturm Disorders and various developmental learning disabilities.

Typical services implemented to address these diagnoses and related behavioral issues include individual and family therapy, behavioral therapy, instruction/education in parenting strategies to address specific diagnoses and behaviors, anger management, 24 hours a day/7 days a week crisis intervention by assigned clinicians, and collateral networking.  Services may also include transportation planning, training and assistance in decision making, vocational guidance, financial problem-solving, nutritional planning, activities of daily living planning, and housing solutions.  The treatment plan is designed with the input of family and providers, and has a strength-based perspective with measurable treatment goals.

Family Stabilization Team services can be funded by MassHealth and various private medical insurance programs.  Bilingual Spanish speaking staff are available.  Referrals to Brightside FST can be made directly to Maria Zygmont, Director of the Brightside FST at (413) 827-4279, or the FST Office at (413) 827-4377.  Referrals will be screened for eligibility and medical necessity, and if appropriate for services, further instructions for intake will be provided.