A Worcester substance use treatment center for teenagers is shutting down at a time when addiction recovery advocates say more treatment programs are sorely needed.
Motivating Youth Recovery is a 12-bed center where psychiatrists and nurses provide adolescents round-the-clock detox and stabilization services. Community Healthlink, an affiliate of UMass Memorial Health, runs the program and says it’s the only one of its kind across the state.
In a statement, a UMass Memorial spokesperson said patient numbers at the treatment center have dwindled because teens and families are seeking other forms of care. The health system added the closure will help mitigate financial woes at Community Healthlink, which has lost $49 million over its last three fiscal years. Community Healthlink specializes in providing behavioral health care services across Central Massachusetts.
“It is no longer feasible for [Community Healthlink] to offer the program,” the spokesperson said.
The hospital tried to boost patient intake at the Motivating Youth Recovery center by expanding admissions to include 18- and 19-year-olds in February.
The closure of the youth treatment program marks the third time Community Healthlink has shuttered a clinic in the span of nine months. The health care provider closed a primary care site in Leominster in September and another in Worcester in March.
Athena Haddon directs recovery services at Spectrum Health Systems, which says it works with 6,000 people in Massachusetts every day. She says the need for adolescent treatment services has increased, even as patient numbers at Motivating Youth Recovery and beds have dwindled.
She noted that more people in Worcester County are becoming homeless and suffering from mental health challenges. She said the closure of the youth treatment center will have serious consequences.
“There’ll be more young people that won’t be able to access services,” Haddon said. “Young people not getting services turn into ... old people that haven’t gotten services.”
