Patient Experiences Related Content

Deconstructing Stigma: Revealing Leads to Healing

The following story features Brandon , a NFL wide receiver, co-founder of PROJECT 375, and participant in our Deconstructing Stigma: A Change in Thought Can Change a Life mental health public awareness campaign. Told through the eyes of its participants, this campaign boldly challenges the...

Paying It Forward Through a Paycheck

Sue Callori needs only to glance at her arms to remember the tools she uses when the going gets tough. On her right arm her tattoos read: “Challenge your thoughts,” “Radical acceptance,” and “Distraction,” and on her left: “This too shall pass.” The writings remind her of what she learned during her...

McLean Embraces Telemedicine

In the chaotic early days of the pandemic, when federal and state regulators lifted a variety of legal barriers to telemedicine services, McLean Hospital programs raced to provide telemedicine to all levels of care Within two weeks, McLean pivoted to telemedicine, with 100% of outpatient and partial...

High School Students Bring Hope and Joy to McLean Patients

For the past few weeks, high school students from Blackstone Valley Tech have been bringing motivational messages, cards, and handmade angels to patients at McLean Hospital. Meghan Griggs, the niece of Karen Gaudette, center director for the McLean Child Care Center, led the effort to make sure...

Tepper Foundation Broadens Access to Child and Adolescent Programs

Shyanne had more or less stopped talking—a disorder called selective mutism. She was depressed and anxious , had stopped going to school, and couldn’t stand to be touched. Her grandmother was doing her best to homeschool her but admits the 12-year-old was learning very little. Then someone told her...

Paying It Forward

Ten years ago, then 27-year-old Mike Muccio thought he was having a heart attack or a stroke. His heart raced, he was dizzy, off-balance, and felt like he was dying—and it kept happening. With his parents at his side, Mike spent the next nine months in and out of physician’s offices with no concrete...

Kayla’s Road to Victory: Taking Care of Her Mental Health

The road to success is often neither short nor smooth. Kayla Harrison of Danvers, Massachusetts, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and the first American to win gold in judo. But she has not always been joyful and confident, as she was when she delivered the commencement address at McLean Hospital...

Deconstructing Stigma: Novel Therapy

The following story features Luanne Rice , a 60-year-old novelist and participant in our Deconstructing Stigma: A Change in Thought Can Change a Life mental health public awareness campaign. “My throat hurt. I was holding back tears and words.” For Luanne, writing is therapeutic. She creates...

Patient Perspective: Reflections 20 Years After Seeking Treatment

At 22, Robin did the hardest thing she had ever done in her life: she confronted her fears. Her fear of God, her fear of unintentionally causing others harm, and her fear of germs—all caused by obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)—had robbed her of her teen years and she wasn’t going to let the...

Living a Healthy Life Without Alcohol

By 5pm, Kathy Stafford’s busy day with the kids was winding down and she would reach for a glass of wine. But as time went on, one glass in the early evening wasn’t enough. “I found myself wanting and having a glass of wine well before 5pm,” says the mother of two whose battle with alcohol lasted...

Patient and Family Advisory Council Encourages Patient/Family-Centered Care

Her son’s last stay at McLean was a turning point: Barb Chandler credits the hospital with helping him get his life back on track. So when she saw a flyer looking for new members to join the hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council , Chandler was intrigued. “I thought if a major hospital like...

How One OCD Patient Is Finding Hope

Katie Wilson is a former patient at McLean’s OCD Institute. I am six months pregnant and I am sleeping on a small patch of the living room floor, because every bed, sofa, or other surface in my home feels contaminated to me. Not safe. I am a trained and registered nurse, with a fear of blood that...

Keep Dreaming: One Patient’s Journey with OCD

Adira Weixlmann is a former patient at McLean’s OCD Institute (OCDI) Life transitions can be an intense combination of positive and negative. Change creates great excitement and hope for the future, but can also be riddled with intense anxiety and worry about the unknown. As an OCD (obsessive...

Supporting McLean Today and Tomorrow: One Donor’s View

Betsy Wilgis is clear about why she has donated to McLean every year since 1999 and written a bequest to the hospital into her will. “They saved my life.” Mrs. Wilgis, a personal finance and health care manager from Baltimore, had been struggling with treatment-resistant depression when her medical...

Actor Experiences Success Despite Years of Anguish

Hollywood loves a good medical drama, but for Ethan S. Smith, a successful actor, writer and director, the anguish he experienced due to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was all too real. Although Smith now successfully manages his OCD, it was just a few years ago that he was in the depths of...

In a Patient’s Words: In My Own Head

“Okay, Lisa. Go.” That’s Carol Hevia, a behavioral therapist at the OCDI, talking to me in my head, as if I was sitting in her Intrusive Thoughts group. Once again, she’s telling me it’s time to spill my guts. When I was a resident at the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute (OCDI) one year ago...

Patchwork: One OCD Patient’s Story

Rachel is a former patient at the OCD Institute. I’m obsessed with “The Real Housewives” and “The Rachel Zoe Project.” And I love to sew. I’ll sit down on a Saturday morning, coffee in hand, and watch a few episodes in a row, sewing by hand or speeding fabric through my machine. Either of these...

Great Expectations: One Student’s Road to Success at Pathways Academy

Jeffery Lindeland is a two-sport athlete for Belmont High School who successfully fundraises on behalf of his teams and is reaching academic goals in a grade-level math class. Five years ago, his mother, Joy Anne Moses, did not know any of these things were possible. Diagnosed with a cognitive and...