INTERFACE Referral Service Launched
Posted on 10/25/2022
INTERFACE Referral Service launched for Foxborough Residents & Foxborough Students
Foxborough residents are now able to access, at no cost, the INTERFACE Referral Service from William James College through a three-year grant from Brigham & Women’s. INTERFACE connects individuals and families with outpatient mental health provider referrals and resources. INTERFACE counselors are available Monday through Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm. After a 15-20 minute conversation, an INTERFACE counselor begins making your match to one of their 9,000 licensed and vetted outpatient mental health providers based on your needs, availability, insurance, and location.
INTERFACE prides itself on offering a provider match as quickly as possible. What sets INTERFACE apart is their comprehensive follow up process, ensuring that every person connects with a suitable match for their outpatient mental health needs. INTERFACE only closes the referral process once there is a successful match. The door doesn’t close completely after that first initial match as INTERFACE understands needs change or the match doesn’t work out, they will provide additional support after the initial match as needed.
Foxborough INTERFACE webpage
In an interdepartmental, pre-launch meeting, INTERFACE Co-Director Heather Byrns presented information and background on INTERFACE as well as a review of a 2017 survey that found during the first and second phase of the referral process that INTERFACE clients were less likely to disengage due to the expeditiousness of the referrals offered through the INTERFACE program.
“Getting people over the hurdles is where this program shines” Byrns commented. “INTERFACE is successful in helping people access service as well as supporting them through the whole process of finding the right match and continued mental health care. INTERFACE helps to eliminate the stigma in seeking mental health care by providing a confidential assessment of your mental health needs. It also address other common difficulties in accessing mental health care such as long waiting periods, financial barriers, time constraints, logistics of traveling to a provider, and lack of provider availability.”
Foxborough Community Social Worker and project leader Pam McGuire expressed her excitement for this program to come to Foxborough, “We are so incredibly grateful to have this important resource now available to the entire Foxborough community and public school students. We have all been reading about and witnessing the increase in requests for mental health services. Whether the pandemic brought to light these needs or whether it actually caused the needs to increase, we can acknowledge this profound effect. To have the support of INTERFACE available for our residents vastly improves the accessibility of mental health services that will address specific needs. Through the follow up provided by this service, they ensure that the mental health supports remain both appropriate and available to each person.”
INTERFACE is a helpline to find outpatient mental health providers and resources, not a hotline. If you or someone you know is experiencing an immediate mental health crisis, you should call Riverside Emergency Service at 800-529-5077 or 9-1-1 for immediate help.
The Human Services Department will be holding an INTERFACE informational presentation at the Council on Aging on Wednesday, November 2nd at 4:00pm. For more INTERFACE information and mental health resources for Foxborough residents please visit: https://interface.williamjames.edu/community/foxborough