Austen Riggs Center
Brooke Sides (Storti) is an experienced professional with a background in social work and criminal justice. Currently serving as Admissions Clinician and Admissions Coordinator at Austen Riggs Center since November 2015, Brooke Sides is involved in the admissions process, facilitating communication with potential patients and families while supporting clinical social workers. Previous roles include serving as a server at Cafe Adam from April 2007 to 2016 and working as an Associate Probation Officer for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from October 2000 to November 2015, where oversight of adult offenders on probation was a primary responsibility. Educational achievements include a Master of Social Work from Boston University, a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Corrections from Westfield State University, and an Associate’s degree in the same field from Berkshire Community College.
Austen Riggs Center
The Austen Riggs Center is known for its internationally-recognized tradition of providing intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy in a voluntary, open, and non-coercive community. Patients not helped in other settings can often benefit from deeper, more thorough psychodynamic evaluation and treatment. For over 100 years, the Riggs has offered long-term residential and hospital-level psychiatric treatment based on intensive, four-times-weekly individual psychotherapy, provided by psychiatrists. From hospital to residential to supervised and unsupervised apartment living, Riggs provides continuity of care with the same interdisciplinary team throughout a patient's stay. Treating an average of 60 patients, Riggs remains one of the few psychiatric treatment centers in the United States committed to the intensive work necessary to help patients take charge of their lives. Erikson Institute for Education and Research Erik H. Erikson, renowned humanist psychoanalyst and former Riggs staff member, recognized that individuals could not be understood apart from their psychosocial and historical contexts. Riggs' Erikson Institute develops this connection by promoting education and research in psychodynamic thought and treatment and by applying the clinical learning to the problems of the larger society. The Erikson Institute aims to bring the work of Riggs into dialogue with other mental health professionals, human service institutions, and scholars from a range of disciplines. The Erikson Institute includes: A Research Department and internships A Fellowship program in psychiatry and clinical psychology The Erikson Scholar program Lectures and workshops for mental health professionals An organizational consultation service, especially for human service institutions