Browse · Evening Treatment in Needham
About this program
Structured treatment on an after-work schedule
Evening Treatment is our structured outpatient program for adults who cannot step away from work, school or family during the day. Groups meet Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 pm at our Needham center, four evenings a week and twelve hours of treatment in total. You finish your workday, take Route 128 or the Needham Line to Chestnut Street, spend the evening in group, and sleep at home. The program is run by master's-level clinicians and licensed practitioners, with medical oversight from our Medical Director, Dr. Richard Marasa, MD, who is board certified in Addiction Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine.
Each evening pairs group therapy with skills work: relapse prevention, managing cravings and stress, repairing relationships, and how substance use and mental health feed each other. Individual counseling is scheduled around the group nights, and medication-assisted treatment with Suboxone, buprenorphine, naltrexone or Vivitrol is built in when it fits your plan. Your insurance carrier may authorize Evening Treatment under its own program name. Admissions confirms the exact benefit before you start.
Who it fits
Who Evening Treatment is for
Evening Treatment tends to be the right level of care when you need real structure and accountability but your days are spoken for. It is a good fit if you:
- Work in Boston or along Route 128 and cannot take weeks away from a job.
- Are a student at one of the colleges around Needham, Wellesley or Boston with a full class schedule.
- Have a safe, stable place to live and people around you who support your recovery.
- Are stepping down from Day Treatment, a residential program or detox and want to keep the momentum going.
- Have tried to stop on your own or with weekly therapy and it has not held.
- Need medication support for opioid or alcohol use disorder alongside counseling.
It is not the right starting point for everyone. If withdrawal could be medically risky, if you need round-the-clock support, or if home is not a safe place right now, a licensed clinician will say so at your assessment and help you plan a safer first step, which is often Day Treatment on weekdays. Medical detox is not provided on site. When it is needed first, we arrange it with a partner facility and hold your place in the evening program for when it is complete.
Evening versus day
How Evening Treatment differs from Day Treatment
Both programs run at the same Needham center with the same clinical team. What changes is the amount of time in treatment and the time of day.
Day Treatment
Full clinical days on weekdays with no overnight stays. Our most structured level of care, for people who need the most support early on, including many who are stepping down from detox or a residential stay. Your carrier may recognize it as partial hospitalization.
Evening Treatment
Four evenings a week, Monday through Thursday, 6 to 9 pm. For adults who work or study during the day and have a stable home. Friday through Sunday are yours, which is why the evening program leans hard on weekend planning and a written relapse-prevention plan.
Many people move from one to the other. Someone who starts in Day Treatment steps down to Evening Treatment when they return to work, and someone who starts in the evening program can step up if a hard stretch calls for more support. Your clinician adjusts the plan with you rather than making you choose once. If you are weighing the two, our comparison of the two levels of care lays them side by side.
What a week looks like
A week in Evening Treatment at our Needham center
Every plan is personal, and the mix of groups shifts as you progress, but a typical week runs like this:
- 01
Monday, 6 to 9 pm: Check-in and process group. How the weekend went, what came up, what you used your plan for. Then a skills block on cravings and triggers.
- 02
Tuesday, 6 to 9 pm: Psychoeducation and group therapy. How substance use changes the brain, what recovery does to reverse it, and how anxiety, depression or trauma fit into the picture.
- 03
Wednesday, 6 to 9 pm: Relationships and family. Communication, boundaries and repairing trust, with family sessions scheduled for the people close to you when that helps.
- 04
Thursday, 6 to 9 pm: Relapse prevention and weekend planning. You leave with a written plan for Friday through Sunday, and you know exactly who to call if it wobbles.
- 05
Around the groups: An individual session with your counselor each week, medication visits with our medical team if medication-assisted treatment is part of your plan, and drug and alcohol screening as your plan requires.
How long you stay in Evening Treatment depends on your assessment and your progress, not a fixed calendar. Most people step down to our Outpatient Program in Needham and then to aftercare, which is planned before the evening program ends rather than after.
Getting here after work
Needham is an easy evening drive or train ride from Boston and MetroWest
Our center is at 392 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Needham, MA 02492, with free on-site parking. By car it sits just off Route 128/I-95, about 30 minutes from downtown Boston, 10 from Newton, 6 from Wellesley by Route 9, 8 from Dedham, 15 from Waltham and 20 from Framingham. By train, the MBTA Needham Line from South Station, Back Bay, Ruggles and Forest Hills ends at Needham Heights, a short walk from our door, so people who work downtown can come straight from the office without a car.
Paying for treatment
MassHealth and Massachusetts insurance for Evening Treatment
Most health plans cover structured outpatient treatment, and the evening schedule does not change the benefit. Our Needham program works with Harvard Pilgrim, Mass General Brigham Health Plan, Optum, Point32Health, TRICARE, Tufts Health Plan, United Healthcare and VA Community Care, and more. MassHealth covers substance use treatment through its plans, and coverage at our Needham program depends on your specific MassHealth plan, so call and we will confirm your benefits before your first visit. We are not in network with Medicare at this time. Massachusetts parity law requires most plans to cover medically necessary addiction treatment on par with other medical care. Read more on our Massachusetts insurance page or see how cost and payment work.
Check my coverage
Your name and a number is all we need to start. Admissions calls you back with what your plan covers, usually within minutes during the day.
Same-day admissions
Call before lunch and in many cases you can be assessed the same day and start your first evening group this week.
New Hampshire
Evenings north of the border: our Londonderry, NH evening program
Our Londonderry, NH center runs the same after-work program under its New Hampshire name on Monday through Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 pm at 1D Commons Dr, Units 21 & 22, off Route 102 at I-93 Exit 4. If you live or work in southern New Hampshire, start with our evening program in Londonderry, NH page, or call and admissions will point you to the right center.
