Treatment

Person-centered, trauma-informed, and innovative treatment, research, education, and advocacy driven by science.

The Trauma Continuum at Hill Center is a state-of-the art comprehensive treatment center that offers compassionate gold-standard care to individuals who are struggling with the very real challenges of trauma-related and dissociative disorders.

We are a collaborative group of interdisciplinary clinicians and staff who are highly trained in trauma-focused care and are known for our exceptional skill and unwavering commitment to the people we serve.

The Trauma Continuum offers two levels of care to address and meet the diverse needs of our patients, partial hospital or day treatment services and outpatient services (currently limited to those completing the partial hospital service or those referred from other McLean Hospital programs). Both the partial hospital and outpatient services are insurance-based, gender inclusive and offer both virtual and in-person options.

Read more about our admissions process below. Start the referral process here:

referrals

Levels of Care

Our partial hospital services (also referred to as a day treatment) offers Stage I trauma-focused treatment (learn more about stages of treatment), which emphasizes psychoeducation about the impact of trauma, the importance of establishing safety, skills for grounding and managing trauma-related distress, and strategies for cultivating support and connection. Our partial hospital treatment teaches skills from a variety of empirically supported modalities suited to help treat PTSD and commonly occurring comorbidities.

Partial hospital services are group-based treatment designed for individuals who need more structure and intensive treatment than can be received from outpatient treatment alone. Patients attend daily for 15-20 days. The partial hospital services operate Monday through Friday from 8:30am-2:00pm. During this time, patients participate in four trauma-focused groups per day. They are assigned a treatment team of a prescriber and case manager and have 2-3 individual 30-minute meetings per week while in the program. Participants do not stay at the hospital after program hours and services are completely voluntary.
 
The partial hospital services are an adjunct to individual therapy or as a support during transition from inpatient hospitalization to one’s regular routine. It is critical that outpatient providers be actively involved throughout a patient’s time in partial hospital treatment. Consultation and collaboration with patients’ outpatient treatment teams allows for a smoother transition back to individual outpatient care when it comes time.

Outpatient services include adjunctive time-limited, evidence-based individual and group psychotherapy for patients who have participated in the partial hospital service. Our outpatient services aim to help patients who have engaged effectively in Stage I trauma-focused treatment (learn more about stages of treatment), and are ready for Stage II and Stage III treatment. A prerequisite for trauma-focused treatment at the outpatient level is the ability to maintain safety and stability and effectively apply the use of grounding and self-regulation skills. Stage II trauma-focused treatment is geared toward deeper processing of traumatic memories and experiences that are often a part of the healing process, including anger, grief, and mourning.

Treatments that emphasize imaginal or in vivo exposure and/or focus on restructuring trauma-related beliefs fall under the umbrella of Stage II treatment. Stage III trauma-focused treatment builds from Stage II (learn more about stages of treatment here), and involves reconnecting with meaningful people, activities, and aspects of one’s life. We offer patients opportunities to engage in Stage II and Stage III trauma-focused treatment (learn more about stages – link to education page), in individual and/or group formats.

We offer a variety of 55-75 minute groups focused on trauma recovery, skill building in the areas of emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal relationships, self-compassion, exposure, and cognitive restructuring. We also offer specific time-limited gold-standard individual therapies for PTSD including:

  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
  • Prolonged Exposure (PE)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with a Trauma Focus
  • Written Exposure Therapy (WET)
  • Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT)
  • Time-limited Trauma-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (TFPP)
  • Finding Solid Ground (FSG; specifically for individuals with DID or severe dissociative symptoms)

Outpatient treatment typically involves once weekly individual and/or group therapy for three to six months. During this time, it is our expectation that patients will continue care with you and any of their other outpatient providers. We expect that you will continue to serve as the patient’s primary outpatient clinician and remain the point of contact in the event of any crisis or psychiatric emergency. Our clinicians and staff in the Trauma Continuum of Care are highly collaborative and will look forward to collaborating on your patient’s care while they are in the program. While we often offer referrals for services following participation in partial hospital or outpatient treatment, we cannot guarantee them. Aftercare is ultimately the responsibility of the patient and their community provider(s).

Admissions

Online Referral Form Submission

Once a referring provider completes the initial referral form, an email with a unique link will be sent to the patient/client to collect additional information.  We are notified of the referral ONLY when BOTH the referring provider and patient have submitted their respective completed online forms.

Once received, our admissions staff reviews the submitted referral information and decides one of the following:

  • More information is needed – our staff will reach out to the patient or referring provider to gather needed information, then review it and decide one of the following; or
  • Referral is not appropriate for our services – referring provider and patient are notified; or
  • Appropriate to schedule a virtual screening – our staff will reach out to patient to schedule.

Virtual/Video Screening Appointment

You will meet virtually with one of our staff members for a 45-minute screening appointment. During this meeting, program information will be reviewed. In addition, you will be asked follow-up and more in-depth questions regarding referral information to assess for readiness and fit for the services we offer. Our staff member can answer any questions you may have.

  • Following a virtual/video screening appointment, our staff reviews again and decides one of the following:
  • More information is needed – our staff will reach out to gather needed information, then review it and decide one of the following; or
  • Referral is not appropriate for our services – referring provider and patient are notified; or
  • Appropriate to offer partial hospital services – a start date or next steps will be discussed with patient.

Scheduling

Patient is scheduled to start partial hospital service or is added to the waitlist depending on availability.

SUBMIT A REFERRAL

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn more here
Patients arrive to program between 8:30-9:00am. There are four groups throughout the day. They are each 45 minutes in length. Groups begin at 9am and end at 1:45pm with group times at 9am, 10am, 11am, and 1pm. There is a lunch break from 12–1pm. The groups you participate in will vary in content, but all groups will be trauma-focused. Some of the groups will help offer important psychoeducation about the impact of trauma, others focus on helpful skills for managing distress and trauma-related symptoms, and some groups offer a safe, open space for individuals to process important trauma-related themes and connect around shared experiences.
 
All patients are assigned a treatment team comprised of a case manager (social worker or psychologist) and a prescriber (psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner). You will typically meet with your case manager 2-3 times per week for 30 minutes to discuss treatment planning, goal setting, skill building, and aftercare planning. Your case manager will serve as your liaison to your outpatient provider/treatment team to collaborate on your care while you are in the program. You will meet with your program prescriber once weekly to assess, evaluate, and discuss your medication regimen. Your treatment team will work with your outpatient providers while you are in the program to collaborate on your care.
The Outpatient services offer adjunctive time-limited, evidence-based individual and group psychotherapy. Outpatient treatment typically involves once weekly individual and/or group therapy for 3-6 months. Outpatient services focus on processing and improving trauma-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as well as reconnecting with important relationships and resuming meaningful activities. We offer a variety of 55-75 minute groups focused on trauma recovery, skill building in the areas of emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal relationships, self-compassion, exposure, and cognitive restructuring. We also offer specific time-limited gold-standard individual therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) including:
  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
  • Prolonged Exposure (PE)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with a Trauma Focus
  • Written Exposure Therapy (WET)
  • Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) 
  • Time-limited Trauma-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (TFPP)
  • Finding Solid Ground (FSG; specifically for individuals with DID or severe dissociative symptoms)
Partial hospital and outpatient services offer different levels of care depending on the intensity of care that one needs at the time. The partial hospital services are a 15-20 day non-residential treatment(i.e., Monday-Friday 8:30am-2:00pm). You have the option to attend partial hospital treatment for 15 days (i.e., three weeks) or 20 days (i.e., four weeks).
 
Outpatient services are a less intensive treatment program, where we offer individual and group therapy, as well as psychopharmacological treatment. On average, patients who participate in outpatient services only require one hour of treatment in our program per week. Outpatient treatment offers time-limited adjunctive trauma-focused treatment, so it is our expectation that patients have a provider outside of our program, who can help refer you to our program and continue working with you after you finish services in the Trauma Continuum of Care.
 
We will help determine which level of care may be most helpful to you at this time through an initial intake appointment. We will collaborate with your outpatient provider(s) during this process. All patients who are referred to the Trauma Continuum of Care begin by going through an initial intake process with one of our intake clinicians, who will work with you to determine what services may be most helpful to you after they learn more about you and what your current symptoms and concerns are.

Patients are referred to our program by their outpatient mental health provider or treatment team if they believe you may need specialized trauma-focused treatment. Patients and their outpatient providers will be asked to complete some initial electronic paperwork via our referral link. Once this is complete, you will be contacted by one of our administrative staff to schedule your intake appointment. Intake appointments may be conducted virtually or in person and are typically scheduled for 45-60 minutes. During this appointment, the clinician will ask you questions about your current symptoms and concerns, as well as questions about your personal and family history. You will be asked questions about the nature of your trauma history, but you will not be asked to disclose explicit details about your experiences. The clinician who you meet with will tell you about our program, give you the opportunity to ask questions, and share their recommendations for next steps. If our program is deemed an appropriate fit for you, the intake clinician will let you know how long the current wait time might be and you will be contacted about a start date.

We treat adults (18+ years of age) of all gender identities who are presenting with primary trauma-related symptoms and concerns. We do not discriminate based on any identity(ies) that individuals hold. It is our belief that any person who has been seriously impacted by trauma deserves access to trauma-focused treatment and care in our program. If you have fears or hesitations about participating in group treatment with others, as some people do, our compassionate clinicians are available to speak to you about these fears and help find effective ways to navigate them.

Typically, groups are limited to a maximum of 10 patients. Groups may be led by one to three clinicians.

We offer both in-person and virtual services (depending on your insurance coverage) for both partial hospital and outpatient treatment. For partial hospital treatment, we will give you the opportunity to express your preference for the in-person or virtual track. Please note that currently, most of our outpatient group services are delivered virtually via HIPAA-compliant Zoom.

We are an adjunctive treatment center and are designed to offer specialized trauma-focused care in conjunction with care you are receiving outside of our center. Both partial hospital and outpatient services require patients to have an outpatient community mental health provider licensed in the state of Massachusetts. This individual will remain your primary clinician for the duration of your time with us and your point of contact in the event of any crisis or psychiatric emergency. Our clinicians and staff in the Trauma Continuum of Care are highly collaborative and will do their best to work with your outpatient clinician(s) to collaborate on your care while you are in our program. While we often offer referrals for services following participation in our services, we cannot guarantee them. Aftercare is ultimately the responsibility of the patient and their community provider.

While the extent of your role and participation in treatment will ultimately be up to the individual who is receiving treatment in our program, family members often play an important role in recovery and we do our best to support families and couples during an individual’s treatment. For this reason, we sometimes hold family meetings as indicated and agreed upon. We respect patients’ wishes around any involvement of other individuals in their treatment, while also emphasizing the importance of open communication, psychoeducation, and intervention with important people in one’s life.

The Trauma Continuum of Care is an insurance-based program that accepts most insurance types. If you have specific questions related to insurance or what your out-of-pocket costs will be, please contact your insurance directly and you can also contact Patient Billing and Financial Services.

Learn more about traumatic stress, dissociation, and related topics and explore other educational resources.

Contact us
LEARN MORE
Newsroom
Facebook X-twitter Youtube
©2025 | All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy

Rebecca Modell, BS

Rebecca is a driven individual with a love of people, an interest in research, and a passion for empathetic clinical care. She graduated from Boston University in 2022 with a BS in Health Science. In the future, she is interested in pursuing an MD and/or PhD in the fields of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience. As a student, Rebecca discovered her interest in research as a Research Assistant in the Boston University Global Health Nutrition Lab under Dr. Lindsey Locks. In the Global Health Nutrition Lab, Rebecca studied malnutrition in populations of women, children, and adolescents and the interaction between malnutrition and infection. She continued to explore her research interests in the Dekel Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a Clinical Research Intern under Dr. Sharon Dekel, Rebecca helped to investigate women’s postpartum mental health and the processes involved in their adjustment post childbirth. Eventually, Rebecca’s interests led her to the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program at McLean Hospital where she now works as a Clinical Research Assistant under Dr. Milissa Kaufman and Dr. Lauren Lebois investigating the neurobiology of trauma and dissociative disorders. Rebecca’s ultimate goal is to become a physician-scientist working in the field of trauma and dissociative disorders. She hopes that one day, her research and clinical practice will be able to improve the lives of those struggling with trauma spectrum disorders.

Zoe Bair, BS

Zoe is passionate about understanding mental health issues through the stories and experiences shared by individual participants. She is currently a Clinical Research Assistant in the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program. Zoe graduated in 2022 from Tufts University with a B.S. in Clinical Psychology. While at Tufts she worked directly under Dr. Jasmine Mote in the Mote Emotion and Social Health Lab to investigate the effects of loneliness on heart rate variability in people with schizophrenia. She also was a part of the Social Identity and Stigma Lab with Dr. Jessica Remedios examining discrimination and adversity faced by individuals with multiple marginalized identities. Zoe has clinical experience conducting assessments for ADHD and autism and working for multiple crisis hotlines. In the future, she hopes to continue doing meaningful research in a clinical psychology graduate program.

Juliann Purcell, PhD

Dr. Juliann Purcell is passionate about supporting survivors of trauma through direct clinical work, research to understand neurobiological changes after trauma, and advocacy to help decrease mental health stigma.

Dr. Purcell earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of Dr. David Knight and Dr. Sylvie Mrug and completed her clinical internship at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System in Richmond, Virginia. Her published research broadly explores the neurobiological impacts of adversity (e.g., childhood abuse and neighborhood disadvantage). Dr. Purcell’s NIH-funded dissertation work investigated relationships that different patterns of substance use across adolescence have with brain structure and function in young adulthood. Additionally, she was instrumental in developing an intervention designed to enhance emotion regulation and interpersonal skills for individuals reintegrating into their communities after incarceration. Dr. Purcell’s clinical background and neuroscience expertise afford a unique perspective from which she approaches clinical, research, and advocacy work.

Romeo S. Cabanban, MS

Cori is the Lab Manager for the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program. The clinical research studies she works on examine the neurobiology of dissociative symptoms and biological markers of PTSD. 


Cori received her MA in Clinical Psychology from Towson University, and her BS in Psychology from Sacred Heart University. Throughout her graduate training under the direction of Dr. Bethany Brand, Cori researched the assessment of complex dissociative disorders. She has clinical experience treating comorbid developmental disabilities, problematic behaviors, and trauma histories.

Cori Palermo, MA

Cori is the Lab Manager for the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program. The clinical research studies she works on examine the neurobiology of dissociative symptoms and biological markers of PTSD. 

Cori received her MA in Clinical Psychology from Towson University, and her BS in Psychology from Sacred Heart University. Throughout her graduate training under the direction of Dr. Bethany Brand, Cori researched the assessment of complex dissociative disorders. She has clinical experience treating comorbid developmental disabilities, problematic behaviors, and trauma histories.

Join our mailing list

Be the first to know about new updates from Mc Lean Hospital

Lauren A. M. Lebois, PhD

Dr. Lauren Lebois is a cognitive neuroscientist who is passionate about understanding how the mind, brain, and body adapt in the aftermath of trauma.  She prioritizes translating scientific breakthroughs in accessible, compelling, and clinically-relevant ways.  Dr. Lebois is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, where she serves as the Director of the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Research Program at McLean Hospital.  Dr. Lebois’ National Institute of Mental Health funded research program focuses on the neurobiology of dissociation in trauma-spectrum disorders.  Her published research analyzes the therapeutic effect of mindfulness-related treatments, the role of learning, experience, and plasticity in emotion, and the assessment of brain and behavioral correlates of dissociation.  Dr. Lebois serves as the Scientific Committee Immediate Past Chair for the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), and the Operations Co-Director of the Initiative for Integrated Trauma Research, Care and Training at McLean Hospital. In 2021, she was awarded McLean Hospital’s Alfred Pope Award for Young Investigators for the publication of an exceptional peer-reviewed, first-authored publication, and ISSTD’s Pierre Janet Writing Award for the best research paper in the field of dissociation and/or trauma within the past year. Recently, she also received the Morton Prince Award from ISSTD for her outstanding cumulative contributions to research on dissociative disorders. Dr. Lebois is deeply committed to using her advances in neurobiology, behavior, and treatment to reduce the stigma and improve care for individuals living with PTSD and dissociative identity disorder.


E-Mail – ResearchGate – Google Scholar – LinkedIn – X @LaurenLeboisPhD