The HOPE Clinic (Harnessing support for Opioid and substance use disorders in Pregnancy and Early childhood) provides care for pregnant people with substance use disorder and their infants from conception through early childhood.
Our goal is to address your urgent needs and questions as they come up. While HOPE Clinic is only open two days a week, you can contact us 24/7 with your questions.
For non-urgent issues, leave a message. We usually return your call within one business day.
For urgent issues, follow the voice recording prompts to page the on-call providers for addiction, psychiatry, pediatrics or obstetrics.
The HOPE Clinic (Harnessing support for Opioid and substance use disorders in Pregnancy and Early childhood) provides coordinated care for pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorder and their families. Our goal is to maximize our patients’ ability to successfully navigate pregnancy, early parenting and substance use recovery. We welcome pregnant people, their partners, and their infants at any time during their pregnancy or in the year following the birth of their child. We continue to support families through the postpartum period and through the first two years following the birth of their child.
Complete Care During and After Pregnancy
The HOPE Clinic is a collaborative program of the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Psychiatry and Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Mass General for Children. Our goal is to give patients and their families extra support through this special period in their lives. We know that each person's path is different, so we tailor our medical and social services to meet each individual where they are in their substance use and recovery.
Patients are seen at our outpatient clinic at Mass General. The HOPE Clinic includes clinicians from a variety of fields who work together to care for patients. Our team includes clinicians trained in:
Obstetrics
Addiction
Family medicine
Pediatrics
Psychiatry during pregnancy and postpartum (after birth)
Social work
Peer recovery
Resource specialist
Our Services
At the HOPE Clinic, we work with each patient to create a care plan that meets them where they are at in their substance use and recovery. The clinic provides complete care for people of reproductive capability and their families during this exciting and challenging time. Through these services, we help pregnant people and new parents maximize their ability to navigate pregnancy, early parenting and substance use recovery with success.
The HOPE Clinic provides complete care for pregnant people, including:
Prenatal care with high risk obstetrics and family medicine
Addiction specialists
Mental health care
Counseling and peer support
Social services
Primary care linkage
We offer medication treatment for substance use disorders (such as buprenorphine or naltrexone). We also work with local methadone clinics.
When a patient is admitted at Mass General for labor, our team coordinates their substance use treatment during childbirth. We work with the inpatient obstetrics team to support our patients through childbirth and their hospital stay at Mass General.
After Delivery
After delivery, we welcome patients and their newborns back to the HOPE Clinic. We continue to provide care for the family for the next two years.
During this period we provide services for mother (whether or not they are parenting) and baby as well help partner access supports.
For infants, we offer:
Monitoring of ongoing neonatal withdrawal symptoms
Pediatric primary care, affiliated with the Mass General for Children Pediatric Group Practice
Breastfeeding support
Referral to early intervention services
Access to other clinical specialists, including:
Infectious disease specialists
Developmental specialists
Eye specialists
Our services for postpartum people after delivery include:
Addiction Medicine, including medication management of substance use disorders
Psychiatry, including medication management of mental health disorders
Behavioral health therapy and counseling
Linkage to primary care
Family planning and contraception
Parenting education
Peer support
Care Coordination
Access to outside resources to help address housing and financial stressors
When children reach two years old, we help connect families to providers in their community who can continue care for the whole family.
Portfolio of Recovery
We also work with patients during their time with us at the HOPE Clinic to create a “portfolio of recovery.” The goal of the portfolio of recovery is to highlight the recovery work done by the birthing parent during pregnancy. It outlines the patient’s treatment goals and identifies the patient’s strengths, support system and plan for the safety of them and their family. The portfolio can then be presented with the help of the inpatient social work team to social services agencies, including the Department of Children and Families (DCF). This portfolio serves as a ‘Plan of Safe Care’ which is required for all infants affected by substance use or withdrawal.
See our Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about how we work with patients to support and advocate for them during DCF proceedings.
The HOPE Clinic is committed to providing access to care not just for our patients and their babies, but also for the rest of the family.
We provide linkage to the following services:
Addiction services
Psychiatry and behavioral health
Parenting education
Social support
Access to other clinical specialists, including:
Primary care providers
Infectious disease specialists
Coordinated Care from a Team of Specialists
We understand that each person's recovery journey is different. We work with each patient to tailor a care plan that meets them where they are in their substance use and recovery. The HOPE Clinic team is made up of specialists with experience treating substance use disorder. It includes physicians (obstetricians, pediatricians, psychiatrists and family practice specialists), social workers, nurses, recovery coaches and clinical care coordinators.
At the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, each patient is an important member of their own care team. We support you with education resources such as childbirth classes, pregnancy-related information and access to women's health resources.
The Hope Clinic was mentioned in this NY Times Opinion Series.
Mass General's HOPE Clinic: Katie's Story
View this video of our former recovery coach.
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A View Inside the Clinic
The HOPE Clinic Team meets weekly for interdisciplinary rounds. Pictured here are Dr. Sarah Bernstein and Dr. Davida Schiff (Maternal Fetal Medicine/Obstetric and Pediatrics).
Marlisa Larkin, HOPE Clinic Nurse, and Dr. Jessica Gray, HOPE Clinic Medical Director touch base during the clinic day.
Dr. Davida Schiff, Pediatrician, speaks to a mom during her newborn’s appointment.
Dr. Davida Schiff (Pediatrician) in the HOPE Clinic waiting area.
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Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mass General has advanced the science and the quality of care for patients since 1891.
A Lifetime of Exceptional Care
Mass General for Children provides expert primary and specialty care for your child from birth through adulthood.
Obstetrics Program
We provide state-of-the-art, individualized care for women and their families before, during and after childbirth.
Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Part of the Mass General Substance Use Disorders Initiative, this is a one-year clinical fellowship with advanced training in addiction medicine.
A new study fund that an intervention involving automated appointment scheduling and reminder messages may improve post-partum health in patients with chronic medical conditions.
Immune activation in a pregnant woman can occur in response to metabolic diseases like obesity, infections in pregnancy, exposure to pollution and environmental toxins, or even stress and can have negative effects on fetal brain immune cells (microglia).
Like many people who consider freezing their eggs, Lauren was hesitant because of the unknowns that came with the process. She was nervous about self-administering hormone injections at specific times, how her body might feel, and keeping up with follow-up appointments.
Read about what it means to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy in your late 30s or early 40s with insights from Lisa Luther, MD, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The world of medicine has made remarkable strides in diagnosing and treating various health conditions, but when it comes to many women’s health issues, progress is lacking.
In September 2023, Melissa Nelson, MSN, CNM, WHNP-BC , became the chief of the Midwifery Service within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Learn More About Our Services
We work with each woman to create a care plan that meets her where she is in her substance use and recovery as well as help navigate pregnancy, early parenting and substance use recovery with success.