Fairwinds -- Nantucket's Counseling Center, Inc.

When couples are faced with difficult decisions or situations, they often struggle to have productive conversations and have difficulty viewing the situation through their partner’s eyes. Therapy helps by identifying where the unproductive patterns of communication that are creating barriers to possible solutions. The therapist will facilitate and teach alternative styles of communication to help the couple have a deeper understanding of, and the ability to meet, each other’s needs. The goal of couples therapy is not to determine the outcome for the couple. That is the choice of the couple. The goal is to help the couple reach the desired outcome in their relationship in a healthy and respectful way.

Is your child experiencing difficulty in school? Does your child’s teacher comment that he or she has trouble focusing or is persistently daydreaming? These are common themes discussed in parent/teacher conferences. Testing can assist in identifying the source of your child’s current challenges, and, where appropriate, a diagnosis will facilitate the development of a comprehensive and individualized educational plan (IEP).

Is your teenager having social or behavioral difficulties at home or at school? Testing can be very useful in pinpointing the issues involved and helping to develop an effective treatment based on the individual’s strengths.

For adults experiencing problems at work or home, testing and assessment can assist in the development of an appropriate therapeutic treatment.

Fairwinds offers a wide range of psychological, diagnostic, psychoeducational and neuropsychological testing and assessment for all age groups.

Fairwinds works in collaboration with Nantucket schools, off-island rehabilitation centers, primary care physicians, and self-referring individuals to provide an Intensive Outpatient Therapy program (IOT). The IOT program was developed in 1973 by Dr. George Kolodner, an addiction psychiatrist based in the Washington, D.C. area. The program helps those with an addiction to connect to a comprehensive and continuing therapeutic program following discharge from a rehabilitation facility or hospital.


This service engages individuals who still live at home and maintain employment. In addition to group therapy, the individual may receive one-on-one psycho-therapeutic treatment for concurrent conditions such as depression, anxiety, or other mental health concerns. As a partner to the courts for decades, providing alcohol and drug addiction treatment, rehabilitation, and training, we ensure swift and accurate reporting of attendance and requirement fulfillment. Our organization has a long history working alongside third parties. We ensure swift and accurate communication among all who are involved.

To better understand your current mental health, one of our counselors will perform an assessment. Once this has concluded, they will then make any recommendations that they deem necessary for your recovery. We offer both group and individual counseling sessions to better accommodate our clients’ needs. By providing multiple treatment options we are able to better formulate an individualized plan that will help you begin the healing process.


Our Intensive Outpatient Therapy program (IOT) provides structured programming for approximately 6 hours or more per week spread over 3 – 5 days. Relative to traditional outpatient treatment, IOT provides an increased frequency of contact and services that respond to the chronicity and severity of problems caused by substance use disorders. The actual number of hours and days per week in which individuals participate in IOT varies depending on one’s needs.

The recommended minimum duration of the IOT phase is usually 90 days. Low-intensity outpatient treatment over a longer period may be a cost-effective means to enhance treatment outcomes because this approach is associated with less substance use and better social functioning in individuals. Duration of treatment can be increased or decreased based on one’s clinical needs, support system, and psychiatric status, among other factors. Typically, a longer duration of care is related to long-term sobriety, improved coping, and healthier relationships.

As a partner to the courts for decades, providing alcohol and drug addiction treatment, rehabilitation, and training , we ensure swift and accurate reporting of attendance and requirement fulfillment. To begin with, in order to better understand your current mental health, one of our counselors will perform an assessment. Once this has come to a conclusion, they will then make any recommendations that they deem necessary for your recovery.


The Driver’s Alcohol Education Class (also known as DAE) is a 17-week court-mandated class for first time Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offenders.

Students learn about the dangers of drunk driving by attending 40 hours of programming, as follows:

One individual intake session

Thirty-four (34) hours of psychoeducational group sessions (one 2- hour session each week for 17 weeks)

Four (4) hours of attendance at a community-based self-help meeting such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA)

One individual discharge (exit) session

Often our services are sought out when a child or adolescent is experiencing behavioral health problems. Fairwinds provides an in-home family therapy service to assist the entire family. A master’s level clinician and a paraprofessional work together with the child or adolescent and the family to offer a structured, consistent, family-centered, strength-based therapeutic model. The goals of this service seek to improve the family’s ability to provide effective support for the youth while also enhancing the overall functioning of the family.

Because medications are involved in 80% of all treatment plans, and therefore impact virtually every aspect of a patient’s life, it is a critical element of our services. Our team is trained to provide the right tools and age-appropriate information for adolescents, adults, and the aging population on how comprehensive medication management can best be integrated.

To ensure our patients’ complete well-being, our Medication Management services cover several aspects of medication use including:

Administration
Today, prescription drugs come in a wide range of forms other than oral. Thus, each requires a specific administrative regimen in order to ensure maximum effectiveness and minimal side effects

Adverse Effects
While all medicines have their side effects, some are more common. We always consider possible side effects when managing client medicine.

Procedure
Our trained professionals are extremely cognizant of the appropriate policies and procedures which are designed to ensure that medicines are used in accordance with Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) principles and relevant legislation.

Mentoring Youth Nantucket (MYNantucket) improves and enriches the lives of island children through the friendship and guidance of our caring, responsible, volunteer mentors through four key programs.

Traditional 1-to-1 Mentoring: Island children are matched with supportive adult mentors who share their interests. Mentors and mentees meet at least 2 days each month to spend quality time together. They enjoy activities that range from throwing a baseball to baking cookies to doing science experiments.

MYNantucket regularly consults with other local non-profits and Nantucket Public Schools staff to identify children who would benefit from a 1-to-1 mentor relationship.

Breakfast Buddies: For more than a decade, this program has provided an early drop-off opportunity and a free daily breakfast to hundreds of elementary school children who often skip breakfast at home. Nantucket High School students volunteer to share a healthy breakfast, talk, play games, help with homework, and spend time with their elementary school buddies.

Breakfast Buddies not only benefits the elementary school children by providing them with companionship and role models, but proves equally beneficial to the high school students, who learn responsibility and leadership skills.

Homework Club: Local High School students volunteer as Academic Mentors to students at the Nantucket Intermediate School (3rd-5th grade) two afternoons per week after school, working together on specific assignments and also to build study and reading skills

The Peer Recovery program at Fairwinds – Nantucket’s Counseling Center was introduced in the fall of 2017 in an effort to create a community on Nantucket that supports those in recovery and professionals providing treatment.

Fairwinds currently offers two (2) Peer Recovery coaches – one male, one female. Our Peer Recovery coaches promote recovery by serving as a guide and mentor for individuals with alcohol and other substance use dependency. Our coaches empower the individual in their personal journey towards recovery by offering hope, while providing advocacy, guidance, support, and knowledge.

While Peer Recovery coaches at Fairwinds do not provide clinical services, they often become a very important member of a person’s recovery support network. Recovery coaches help motivate and encourage recoveries during times of struggle, and may be called on to support individuals when they are experiencing difficult emotional states.

Generously supported by a grant from the Town of Nantucket, Fairwinds offers a FREE drop-in Urgent Behavioral Healthcare Clinic 6 days per week outside of normal business hours. No appointment is needed and is designed for urgent care for individuals experiencing panic/anxiety attacks, feeling overwhelmed or depressed, those struggling with life stressors, and individuals unable to wait until their next appointment with a provider.