Michelle’s teenage son had struggled with depression for years before he came to McLean’s 3East residential program.
At the core of 3East’s continuum of care is dialectical behavior therapy, a gold-standard, evidence-based treatment that teaches people to regulate emotions, tolerate distress, build interpersonal skills, manage attention, and develop self-awareness.
“He came back from McLean and restarted his life with a new set of skills,” she recalled. “He would drive himself and his sister to school every morning with a smile on his face and, for the first time, he thought college might be a possibility. Now, he’s a college sophomore and is in a place he never thought he’d get to—busy with friends and looking ahead.”
Michelle was impressed with 3East’s focus on building skills for her son and also for members of the family. “The family sessions and parent education were invaluable—and all built on a foundation of great science, great clinical care, and great doctors,” she said. “The entire staff is passionate and skilled.”
Michelle and her running partner celebrate their completed half-marathon
So, when she decided to run a half-marathon in November 2020, she knew she wanted to fundraise for McLean.
“My son’s experience getting healthy helped our whole family, and we saw the power of good mental health care,” she explained. “We also wanted to say ‘thank you’ to McLean and pay it forward.”
Michelle said that while McLean was helpful with the logistics of directing her donors’ gifts to the hospital and reporting back who had donated, the process was a bit unwieldy. Still, she was pleased with the results: she raised $5,000 for McLean and she and her husband matched the gifts, bringing the total to $10,000.
But peer-to-peer fundraising for McLean is about to become a whole lot easier and more streamlined. The hospital is implementing a platform called DonorDrive, which makes it much simpler for people to create an online presence for their “DIY” fundraisers and engage their own circles in supporting McLean directly.
“I think it will be comforting to my donors to know that their money is getting to the right place and that the hospital knows it’s for my fundraiser,” said Michelle. “It also makes it easier for me to track how much has come in and from whom so I can thank people personally for their donations.”
Michelle hopes to run another half-marathon to benefit McLean and looks forward to using the new platform.
For information on creating your own fundraising event or activity for McLean, contact Ben Ogilvy at 617.855.3623.
Media Requests
Journalist or member of the media? We are available 24/7 for media requests.
