Healthy minds. Healthy lives. Strong communities.
Our vision: A mental health care system effective and equitable for all.
Our mission: The Brookline Center transforms the mental health system through the development and delivery of innovative programs and services that are accessible to our community and beyond.
Today in the US, there is a dire shortage of mental health providers. By one estimate, the number of clinicians working in behavioral health is sufficient to cover just 13 percent of the actual need for mental health services. The federal government predicts we will need 5.17 million new clinicians by 2025 to meet growing demand.
At the same time, the occurrence of mental health issues, which had reached crisis levels before the pandemic, has now become an epidemic of its own.
The parallel challenges of a workforce shortage and a historically high level of need demands innovative solutions to expand clinical capacity and increase care access.
Established five years before the signing of the Community Mental Health Act, The Brookline Center has been known throughout its 60-plus-year history for its field-defining work. In response to today’s enormous challenges, the Center is re-imagining its core work as the development and deployment of innovative cross-system programs and services to transform mental health care. With the launch of the Innovation Institute in early 2023, the Brookline Center will initially focus our work on four key areas: school-based mental health, complex care, early psychosis, and workforce development.
Through our home offices in Brookline’s Washington Square, our work in the community, and with our local and statewide partners, we will continue to deliver the highest quality outpatient mental health care to adults and children in Brookline, Greater Boston, and across the Commonwealth.
