History of the Marblehead Counseling Center

In 1969, a group of Marblehead residents realized there was little being done on the North Shore to address the counseling needs of children, teens, and adults. Especially pressing was the need for services for substance abuse and for mental health problems such as depression and family upheaval. In response, the group founded the Marblehead Counseling Center to provide direct services to individuals and families and to be a forum for addressing community needs.

Thirty-nine years later, The Counseling Center remains true to that vision. Today, it is the leading counseling resource for Marblehead and Swampscott, providing a broad array of counseling, education, prevention, and wellness services. More than 500 children, adults, elders and families seek The Counseling Center’s services each year. During its history, The Counseling Center has provided over 110,000 counseling and therapy sessions to help people in the challenging times in their lives.

Although The Counseling Center was originally funded as a substance abuse outpatient facility, it has grown to develop expertise in many other areas of treatment. Especially strong is its work with youth, family and marital issues, depression, and, of course, misuse of alcohol and other drugs.

The Counseling Center provides special outreach—assisting teens and their families through those difficult, growing years. Group treatment provides help with women’s issues, single parenting, addictions, adult children raised in addicted families, men’s concerns, children with attention deficit disorder, teenage issues. In recent years, the Counseling Center’s therapy with couples and families has grown tremendously.

The Counseling Center has a reputation for meeting the needs of its communities through innovative, effective programs. “In every activity we undertake, whether it is a clinical intervention, a community education program or a wellness service, we believe in the power of the human spirit and the innate strengths of individuals,” remarked Crosby. “We work in partnership with our clients and other local organizations to enhance resilience, promote recovery and build community.”

While most of The Counseling Center’s clients are fully paid through medical insurance, charitable and Town contributions support subsidized services to uninsured individuals who live or work in Marblehead and need counseling but are unable to afford it.