Turning race and extremism into healing

On September 30, 2025, the outpatient behavioral health departments of Trinity Health of New England are scheduled to close their doors. For many, this may seem like a routine administrative shift. But for those of us living with medical complexities, disabilities, and limited access through Medicare and Medicaid, it marks the end of a lifeline.

My therapist at St. Francis is not just a provider—she is a witness to my life. She celebrates milestones with me, like the development of my children beyond their medical complexities, and the quiet triumphs of my own healing. She holds space for the unimaginable: the disappearance of my autistic son, the electric shock treatment to my heart after the devastating loss of my mother and three matriarchs during the pandemic, and much more. She doesn’t flinch. She listens. She remembers. She reminds me that I am still here.