The town has a place for this.
Westwood Youth and Family Services is a town department, not a private practice and not the same thing as the Community Chest.
An independent guide written by Artemis Realty and Design. Not the town’s website. Sources are linked throughout.
It is easier to say what it is not.
Not a charity, not a private clinic, not the recreation department. It has been a municipal agency since 1986.
The work is done by master’s level clinicians. Counseling covers school and academic issues, peer and social problems, conflict between a child and a parent, anxiety, depression, loss and grief, and adjustment after a divorce. The department describes it as short term.
One detail decides how the first phone call goes: a referral for a child must be made by that child’s parent or legal guardian.
“Free and confidential to Westwood residents and students of the Westwood Public Schools.”
Town of Westwood, Youth and Family Services, Counseling Services
Before you call
Collected from the town’s own pages.
- The referral for a child comes from a parent or legal guardian.
- Eligibility is written two ways: Westwood residents, and students of the Westwood Public Schools.
- Counseling is short term. The department refers on when a situation needs more.
- Mentoring and school programs are separate from counseling and are open to the same two groups.
- Wentworth Hall, 273 Washington Street, in Islington.
- 781-320-1006. Monday to Thursday 8 to 4:30, Friday 8 to 1.
- There is a second office inside Westwood High School, room A152.
- This is an office, not a crisis line. In an immediate crisis, 988 answers by call or text at any hour.
Three names people mix up
Only one of them does counseling.
Youth and Family Services
A town department. Counseling for school aged children and their families, plus mentoring and programs that run inside the schools. Wentworth Hall, 273 Washington Street. 781-320-1006. Town of Westwood
Westwood Community Chest
An independent nonprofit, running since 2006. Short term financial help with medical bills, heat, water, rent, taxes, car repair, home repair and camp. Not part of the town. 781-366-0470. How the Chest works. westwoodcommunitychest.org
INTERFACE Referral Service
A free service that finds any Westwood resident a therapist with an actual opening, adults included. Run with William James College through the town’s Human Services Department. 888-244-6843, weekdays 9 to 5.
What there is, by age
Elementary school
Friends Network pairs a third, fourth or fifth grader with a high school mentor for weekly evenings at Wentworth Hall, Thursdays from November to early April. It is free. Body Safety Theater is performed in school for third graders, by high school students.
Middle school
Be SMARRT is presented to middle schoolers by high school students. Yoga Flow and Still Space are wellness sessions. Counseling itself is not age tiered and runs alongside all of it.
High school
Mostly a place to volunteer rather than a place to be helped. High schoolers run Body Safety Theater and Be SMARRT, mentor in Friends Network and Library Leaders, and write to older residents through Westwood Writes. There is a mentor application.
Questions people ask
Is there a cost?
No. The town describes its counseling as free and confidential to Westwood residents and students of the Westwood Public Schools. There is no fee, no insurance claim and no sliding scale to negotiate. What it is not is open ended: the department describes the counseling as short term, and refers people on when a situation needs longer or more specialized care.
We live in another town, but our child goes to school in Westwood. Does that count?
Yes. Eligibility is written two ways: Westwood residents, and students of the Westwood Public Schools. A child enrolled in the Westwood schools qualifies through the second route, whichever town the family lives in. If your situation sits on the edge of that, the department at 781-320-1006 is the place to ask.
Can my teenager call on their own?
Not for the referral itself. The town states that a referral for a child must be made by the child’s parent or legal guardian, so the first step belongs to an adult. The department does keep a second office inside Westwood High School, in room A152, which is worth knowing when the conversation is easier at school than at home.
What if we need help tonight?
This is a town office with office hours, not a crisis line. In an immediate mental health crisis the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline answers by call or by text at any hour, and 911 is the number for a medical emergency. The department picks the situation up afterward, during the week, at 781-320-1006.
About this page
Written by Artemis Realty and Design, a brokerage based in Westwood. This is not the official page of Youth and Family Services, and Artemis has no affiliation with the Town of Westwood. Every fact above comes from the town’s own published material and is linked to it.
Knowing how a town actually works is part of this job. If you are moving to Westwood, or moving inside it, that is a conversation worth having early. Talk to Artemis
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