One of the nation’s first fully integrated West meets East health care facilities, Metta Health Center focuses on serving the health care needs of refugees and immigrants. Metta was originally founded to serve the needs of Lowell’s Southeast Asian community, and now serves refugees and immigrants from across the Globe. “Metta” means loving kindness in the Buddhist Pali language.
Services include primary medical care for all ages using a family medicine model, chronic disease management, nutrition counseling, mental health services, traditional healing advice, acupuncture, massage therapy, social services, meditation, health education and referrals.
Behavioral Health Services are available to all patients at Metta Health Center, including an innovative model originally designed for providing behavioral health to Lowell’s Southeast Asian community. This model acknowledges the importance of cultural beliefs and pairs a bicultural mental health specialist with a licensed mental health clinician and, if needed, a psychiatrist or a psychiatric nurse practitioner. The mental health specialist not only interprets, but also serves as a bridge between cultures in the treatment.
Metta’s staff members are highly trained, multilingual, and multicultural. All providers who treat patients are sensitive to culturally-rooted needs.