Primary Care | Supporting Families

At Boston Children's Primary Care at Longwood and Primary Care at Martha Eliot, we know that health is more than just medical care. Through our Primary Care Social Work Department, we know, too, that parenthood — and life — can be hard sometimes. If you are concerned about your child's behavior or mental health, if you are struggling as a parent, or if you need help finding resources and support for your family, call us. We have a team of bilingual Spanish speaking social workers and the ability to help families who speak many different languages access the care they need.

Our team of licensed clinical social workers can help with your child’s mental health and behavioral needs. We provide crisis assessments, behavioral consultations, brief interventions to address situational or developmental stressors, parental supports, and referrals for counseling at our clinics, in schools, and the community. We work closely with staff in the behavioral health department at Martha Eliot, which has a full team of bilingual Spanish psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, and social workers who can provide therapy, psychiatry evaluations, and medication management. Our staff is familiar and able to respond to the needs of families from diverse backgrounds.

Our patient navigators, or resource specialists, and social workers are available to help with a variety of resource needs such as help with housing, and emergency financial and food needs.

Please talk with your child’s doctor or call or ask the on-call social worker to help you with resource and behavioral health concerns.

We offer monthly workshops for our families in English and Spanish about how to access affordable and subsidized housing in Boston. We also offer a monthly childcare and Employment workshop. Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. partners with us to offer financial planning at the housing workshop and to provide the childcare and employment workshop.

The clinic also offers a monthly car seat workshop. Periodically, we offer workshops about immigration, insurance, benefits, utilities, special education, autism diagnoses, and free tax services. Information is available on waiting room computers or on the Martha Eliot Facebook Page.

• Action for Boston Community Development can help you get information about daycare, Head Start, housing, and fuel assistance.
• Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. can help with information about child care, financial management, and employment.
• Project Bread provides information about food pantries in your community.
• Fair Foods will help you find places where you can buy groceries for $2 a bag.
• Daily Table is a grocery store offering nutritious produce, meat, prepared foods, and groceries in Roxbury and Dorchester where SNAP benefits go twice as far.
• Metropolitan Boston Housing partnership provides housing information for tenants and landlords.
• Family Aid provides case management and support to help families access improved housing opportunities.
• Family Ties provides parents of children with special health care needs information and support.
• Mass Advocates for Children's mission is to be an independent, effective voice for children who face significant barriers to equal educational and life opportunities. MAC provides advocacy and training for parents about special education laws and strategies to improve educational supports.
• Healthy Baby Healthy Child offers home visiting to new mothers with children under 5 in the Boston area.
• Child Witness to Violence Project offers information for parents and therapy for children under 8 who have witnessed domestic or community violence.
• Parents Helping Parents has a 24-hour confidential parent stress phone line and parent support groups.
• Casa Myrna offers shelter and support to parents experiencing domestic violence.
• Jewish Family & Children’s Services provides support for new mothers in their Center for Early Relationship Support and information for people with developmental disabilities.
• Cradles to Crayons helps with emergency clothing needs for children up to age 12.
• The Neighborhood Trauma Team works to help families impacted by community violence.
• The Rian Immigration Center helps families with immigration issues.
• Boston Children's Medical Legal Partnership helps families connect with legal supports.