My Story

Hello and welcome! This is site is meant as a meeting place for all stakeholders in mental health care delivery in the US to exchange ideas that could shape the future. 

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I want to know about YOU and your experiences and ideas about how to change mental health care delivery to meet the ever-increasing needs of our communities.

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I also want to share my ideas with you and get your feedback. A little about me. My name is Dr. Karen A. Adler. I am an adult psychiatrist in private practice in Lexington, MA. I am also affiliated with a psychiatric hospital and medical school in Massachusetts. My patients come to me for help with a wide range of difficulties. I do have specialized knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of trauma and dissociative disorders and borderline personality disorders, so my practice leans a bit in those directions. I use a range of evidence-based interventions including medication management, individual therapy, family/couples therapy and I run a free weekly support group for women. I also take multiple insurance plans. The combination of being in private practice, doing therapy as a psychiatrist and taking insurance is somewhat unusual in the area where I practice, which is something I wish weren't the case.

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During residency and beyond I've been fortunate enough to work in a wide range of settings, including emergency, inpatient, residential, partial hospital/day program and outpatient (both within a hospital clinic and independent practice). 

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I have met and worked with talented and dedicated professionals in all these settings and also have heard from patients about how lucky they are to receive good care and how hard it had been to arrive at that place. I feel strongly that everyone should have access to high-quality mental health care regardless of income or geographical location, and within a reasonable time-frame from the onset of symptoms. I've tried to reduce barriers to accessing care in my own practice to the best of my ability. But lately, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, that hasn't felt like enough. Right now there is a unique opportunity to envision and enact major changes in mental health care. The pandemic has generated an increased demand for mental health care but also expanded utilization of more flexible methods of providing these services (eg expanded telehealth). The nation's awareness of the need for these services as well as the shortage of providers is heightened. There is an openness to new ways of doing things for providers, patients and systems of care.  I want to use this opportunity to really understand and unpack the problems in the system as it is and generate better alternatives.

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And I need your help to do it!