Austen Riggs Center

09/02/2026

Austen Riggs has appointed finance and technology expert Joseph Coleman as its new Chief Financial and Operations Officer, effective September 8. With over 25 years of leadership experience at JPMorgan Chase, Coleman’s arrival fulfills a top priority that Medical Director and CEO Oscar Hills, set out when he took the helm of Riggs on July 1: building a leadership partnership that the Center needs to thrive in a highly competitive behavioral health treatment environment.

Coleman’s background spans budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting and analysis, risk management and governance, vendor and contract oversight, and building diverse, high-performing teams across functions and disciplines.

08/31/2026

Join us for a live Q&A with our Director of Admissions and Director of Psychological Testing. Discover how our unique treatment model can benefit your patients. Bring your case-informed questions and gain insights into our admissions process. Register for an upcoming session by going to the link in the comments.

08/28/2026

When you’re considering residential treatment for yourself or someone you love, it can be difficult to imagine what the experience will actually be like.

Sometimes it helps to hear from people who have been there.

Former Austen Riggs patients share, in their own words, what brought them to treatment, what they experienced while they were here, and how their lives changed afterward.

Read their stories and reflections by going to the link in the comments.

08/26/2026

Heading back to school can bring a lot with it.

Maybe you’re returning to class feeling anxious, overwhelmed, isolated, stuck in the same patterns, or unsure how long you can keep managing everything on your own.

The Austen Riggs Online IOP offers support for college students and emerging adults ages 18–30 in Massachusetts and Vermont who may need more than weekly therapy. The program is 100% online, meets Monday–Friday, and is designed to help participants stay connected to school and daily life while getting more intensive support.

Want to learn more? Join our free virtual information session tonight, August 26, from 6:00–6:50 p.m. (Eastern) with Online IOP Director Spencer Biel, PsyD.

Learn more and register by going to the link in the comments.

08/24/2026

What does it mean to put psychotherapy first in children’s mental health care?

New guidance from Florida encouraging psychotherapy before medication for children with mild symptoms has sparked a broader conversation about how we understand and treat emotional distress in young people.

Austen Riggs psychiatrist David Mintz, MD, reflects on why careful evaluation and psychotherapy matter, and why the conversation shouldn’t be framed simply as psychotherapy versus medication.

“When treatment is filtered primarily through a biomedical lens, without room for psychosocial understanding, both diagnosis and treatment suffer.”

Read Dr. Mintz’s perspective in the comments.

08/21/2026

When does it get easier to be a parent?

In the early days of parenting, it's often called "being in the trenches." Late nights with burps and dirty diapers, you are sleep-deprived, deeply in love, but also filled with new worries. Is she eating enough? Is he meeting his developmental milestones? How will I ever let this baby go when my parental leave is over?

And then suddenly, there you are, packing the minivan and preparing to send him or her off to college.

Parenting a college-aged child can be a different sort of "trench." As you drive away from campus, you might be filled with similar worries as when your child was an infant: "Is she eating enough?" "Will he succeed in his major?" "How can I let this child go into the world without me right by his side?"

Dr. Erin Seery - a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who works with emerging adults and their parents - gives five tips to keep in mind for the struggles that can present themselves in the transition to adulthood and what parents can do to help.

Read the entire blog and learn more by clicking on the link in the comments.

08/07/2026

08/07/2026

We’ve added a new talk to our free YouTube lecture series.

In this presentation, Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, explores Wilfred Bion's influential theories of group dynamics, examining the distinction between work groups and basic assumption groups and considering their relevance for psychoanalytic treatment, organizational life, and institutional culture.

View the link in the comments.

08/03/2026

Sometimes trauma is obvious and easy to recognize. Other times, its effects remain hidden in the unconscious, quietly shaping our relationships, sense of self, and daily interactions. It can appear in intimate partnerships, friendships, family dynamics, and even in the workplace. Trauma has a way of making us question our worth, our safety, and our place in the world.

The full article on trauma is linked in the comments.

07/29/2026

More talks are being added to our free YouTube lecture series in the coming weeks. If you haven't had a chance to watch the videos, the link is in the comments.