With a Bright Future, Link House Changes Leaders

REGIONAL – When Dr. Gary Gastman became the executive director for Link House nine years ago, it had an annual budget of $1 million, and as he described the major mental health services provider, it had “good bones,” but needed “some improvements.”
On Oct. 20, when Gastman turns the reins of the 51-year-old addiction treatment organization over to Christine Turner, the senior director of services, the improvements he has brought are evident.
Today, Link House has an annual budget of $4 million, has five residential treatment centers and two outpatient programs. It has added new campuses and programs to cope with the growing mental health challenges of the greater Newburyport community.
Gastman, who plans to take a year’s sabbatical with his wife Dr. Laura Goldberg before launching the next chapter of his career, said, “I will miss it. It’s been my dream job.” Being executive director for Link House has been great for him personally and professionally, he said.
He is happy with the board’s choice of Turner to replace him. “It’s working out well,” he said. “The future of Link House is bright.”
Turner, who brings more than 25 years of experience leading human service organizations and oversees the residential and outpatient treatment programs at Link House, said last week she is excited to assume the Link House leadership.
Link House has been such a resource for the North Shore communities where so many people are struggling with anxiety and loneliness as well addiction, she said. “There is a never-ending need” for people who are in “a very dark place.”
She plans to continue developing new programs, including expanding out-patient services and to stabilize the services that Link House has created in recent years, including the Children and Teen Center for Help (CATCH), which is working with students in five schools.
A big challenge Link House faces is to recruit additional therapists, she said. Two new therapists have been hired in recent weeks, but more are needed.
Under Gastman’s leadership, Link House has been careful not to grow too fast, but the needs for mental health services are outstripping its resources, Turner said. In recent weeks, there have been several suicides among addicted and troubled clients, she said.
“We need to talk about it honestly,” she said.
A native of Great Britain, Turner previously held leadership positions at Lowell House and at The Psychological Center in Lawrence. She is a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor and is board certified by The American Academy of Experts in traumatic stress. She is a master addictions counselor with the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors.
After decades of fighting for mental health, she said, “I still love it.”
Gastman and Turner, who won the job over three other strong candidates, will spend the next few weeks making the transition, but then he said he would be gone, leaving no confusion among the staff about who is in charge. He has even rented out his house for the year with plans to spend the year somewhere other than Newburyport.
Gastman, a licensed psychologist with decades of management and administrative experience in behavioral health settings, took over Link House operations in 2015 during the opioid crisis and a time when there was a severe lack of mental health care providers who would accept MassHealth insurance.
“Our goal was to create a professional setting for treatment and counseling,” he said.
He created a leadership team of the senior directors, rather than having them operate in separate silos. They were empowered as a team to run Link House, he said.
Gastman added more professional management, adding administrative systems and conducting client surveys that led to quality improvement plans. He installed more benefits for the staff, which helped Link House recruit more and better therapists and counselors.
Most importantly, he built a strong relationship with the Department of Public Health, which provides significant funding for Link House programs, and changed the Link House philosophy to embrace Medicated Assisted Treatment.
To meet the growing financial needs of Link House, he enlarged the board from four to nine directors, all of whom bring diverse expertise such as legal and medical advice as well as strong community ties.
From its beginnings as a single residential program for men addicted to alcohol, Link House now operates five residential programs for men and women.
They are the original facility, the Link House, near downtown Newburyport that houses 20 men; Progress House and The Elms, both in Amesbury, which treat 25 men each; the Maris Center for Women in Salisbury, which houses 40 women, and its newest program, the Women’s Independent Sober Housing (WISH) in Newburyport, which treats 16 women.
The two outpatient programs are the Center for Behavioral Health, which provides counseling and treatment for adults, and CATCH, which treats children from ages five to 18.
“Over our history, we have helped more than 6,500 individuals improve their mental well-being and take positive steps toward living sober, independent and productive lives,” its website states.
Gastman said he and Goldberg, a psychological therapist, are excited about their coming sabbatical. He was vague on where they plan to spend the next year as they recharge and plan the next chapter in their lives.