HOPE Clinic

COVID-19 NOTICE: Due to the pandemic, we have relocated our office to the first floor of the Cox Building, Suite 110, in the West End and Bridge Clinics. Please call our clinic at 617-724-4643 before walking in for care so that we can identify the best location for you, your child or your partner to be seen.

The HOPE Clinic (Harnessing support for Opioid and substance use disorders in Pregnancy and Early childhood) provides coordinated care for pregnant and parenting women 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 women, their partners and their infants at any time during their pregnancy or 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 MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Our goal is to give women and their families extra support through this special period in their lives. We know that every woman’s path is different, so we tailor our medical and social services to meet each individual where she is in her substance use and recovery.

Women and their families 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

Our Services

At the HOPE Clinic, we work with each woman to create a care plan that meets her where she is at in her substance use and recovery. The clinic provides complete care for women and their families during this exciting and challenging time. Through these services, we help pregnant women and new parents maximize their ability to navigate pregnancy, early parenting and substance use recovery with success.

View our Welcome Packet

During Pregnancy

The HOPE Clinic provides complete care for pregnant women, including:

• Prenatal care in partnership with midwifery and high-risk obstetrics
• Addiction specialists
• Mental health care
• Counseling and peer support
• Social services
• Primary care

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 her 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 mothers 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 the mother, her partner and her baby. For infants, we offer:

• Monitoring of ongoing neonatal withdrawal symptoms
• Pediatric primary care, affiliated with the MassGeneral Hospital 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 women 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 women 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 mother during her pregnancy. It outlines the patient’s treatment goals and identifies her strengths, support systems and plan for the safety of herself and her 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.

View our Recovery Portfolio

Services for Partners and Other Children

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 the following services to family members:

• 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 woman to tailor a care plan that meets her where she is in her 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.

Clinical Team

• Sarah Bernstein, MD, Maternal Fetal Medicine
• Nkechi Conteh, MD, Psychiatrist, Deviney Chaponis, MD, Family Medicine & Addiction Medicine
• Jessica Gray, MD, Family Medicine & Addiction Medicine
• Susan Hernandez, CNM, MSN, nurse-midwife, OB/GYN
• Edwin Raffi, MD, psychiatry
• Davida Schiff, MD, pediatrics
• Katie Raftery, Recovery Coaching/Peer Support
• Eileen Stocker, Recovery Coaching/Peer Support (based at MGH Revere Health Center)
• Laura Chritton, Recovery Coaching/Peer Support (liaison at Bay Cove Human Services)
• Gretchen Stearns, LICSW, social work
• Jacqueline Bango, LICSW, social work
• Naomi Hurst, RN, nurse case management
• Archana Patel, MS, practice management

Clinical Advisory Committee

• Martha T. Kane, MD, clinical director, Substance Use Disorders Initiative and Ambulatory, Department of Psychiatry
• Leslie S. Kerzner, MD, director, Newborn Development Follow-up Clinic; associate medical director, Special Care Nursery, Division of Newborn Medicine
• Tricia McNamara, MBA, director of finance, Department of Psychiatry
• Julie Ritucci, CPA, MPH. director of finance, Department of Pediatrics
• Elizabeth Ann Powell, senior administrative manager, Substance Use Disorders Initiative and Addiction Services, Department of Psychiatry
• Alexandra Sobran, MSW LICSW, clinical director, Social Work
• Sarah Wakeman, MD, medical director, Substance Use Disorders Initiative
• Caryn Wilson, MBA, executive director, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Janika L. Roy, practice manager, Division of Obstetrics
• Michelle O’Hara, DNP, RN, NE-BC. nursing director, Labor and Delivery
• Kim Francis, PhD, RN, PHCNS-BC, nursing director, Newborn Family Unit
• Alice Newton, MD, medical director, Child Protection Team
• Christopher Shaw, NP, nursing director, Addiction Consult Team
• Kelly Santomas, MS, RN, nursing director, Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology

Leadership Council

• Alexy Arauz Boudreau, MD, director, Pediatric Population Health, MassGeneral Hospital for Children
• William Barth, MD, chief, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine
• Lee Cohen, MD, director, Center for Women’s Mental Health
• Jeff Ecker, MD, chief, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Paul Lerou, MD, chief, Neonatology and Newborn Medicine, MassGeneral Hospital for Children
• Raymond Levy, PsyD, director, The Fatherhood Project, Department of Psychiatry
• Joy Rosen, MS, vice president, behavioral health
• Elsie Taveras, MD, executive director, Kraft Center for Community Health; chief, Division of General Academic Pediatrics
• Tim Wilens, MD, chief, Division of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry; co-director, Center for Addiction Medicine

Initial Clinic Development and Implementation (not previously mentioned)

• Joseph H. Chou, MD, PhD, director, Clinical Analytics and Performance Improvement; Neonatology and Newborn Services
• Hiyam Nadel, RN, BSN, MBA, CGC, nursing director, Obstetrics Program
• Monique Tello, MD, primary care physician, Women’s Health Associates
• Charles D. Weinstein, PhD
• Marie Henderson, CNM, MSN, nurse-midwife, Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Robin Mahrouk, RN nurse coordinator, Outpatient Obstetrics
• Shayla Partridge, BA