Helping Yourself and Others

Referrals to PHS come from colleagues, family members, friends, or patients, and often from the affected physician. Each referral is treated individually, in a compassionate and confidential manner. Communications with PHS are confidential under state law, and chemical dependency cases have additional protections under federal law.

• Signs of Concern 
• Medical Student Information 
• Peer Support Meetings
• Links to Self Help Groups 
• What It Means To Be a Monitor 
• Mandated Reporting — Obligations to Consider 

Confidentiality at PHS

If you wish to refer a colleague, or if you are in need of help, PHS strongly encourages you to call us directly at one of the following telephone numbers:

Direct Dial: (781) 434-7404
 
Toll Free: (800) 322-2303, ext. 7404

Personal Stories

• Overcoming Addiction
• A Personal Story of Addiction 
• A Personal Story of Mental Illness 
• Learning from the Inside Out
• Professional Boundaries
• The Disease of Addiction
• Mental Illness 
• A Time to Reflect: A Personal Story of Addiction
• Reasons to Give — A Personal Story 
• An Amazing Journey to Sobriety
• Reasons to give — An Alcoholic’s Story 
• A Recovery Addiction Story

Participation with PHS is voluntary. We do not force our services on any physician who does not want them. PHS will strongly urge a physician who is ill to get help, and we will suggest specific treatment options. We respond to the concerns of families, colleagues, and hospitals by providing coordinated interventions and referrals to treatment.

PHS provides ongoing, confidential support for recovery from alcoholism and substance abuse, including referral, liaison with colleagues, recovery monitoring and documentation, support groups for physicians and their families, and advocacy for return to practice. The monitoring program is designed to support the recovery process and to help assure the safe practice of medicine.

PHS recognizes the high prevalence of domestic violence affecting all segments of our society. PHS can serve as a resource for expert and confidential health. Physicians, their spouses, or significant others are encouraged to call Physician Health Services.

PHS also appreciates the difficulties physicians and their families experience when involved in malpractice litigation. We function as a confidential referral service for peer support groups, family support groups, and individual counseling.

PHS is also a resource for physicians and their family members with compulsive gambling problems.

In the event of chronic, progressive, or untreatable illness, PHS will help to identify employment alternatives or retirement options.