News Briefs

Solstice Jingle Bell Run & Ride Tonight

Solstice Jingle Bell Run & Ride will be held on Thursday, December 21 at 6:00 at Drop Zone Brewery.

Grab your bells & lights (or borrow some of ours!) and your bike, sneakers or jogging stroller, and join Bike Winthrop and the Winthrop Run Club for a festive run & ride in celebration of the Winter Solstice & holiday season! There will be a limited selection of glow sticks, jingle bells for wrists/ankles, and bike lights, as well as some free helmets, but encourage you to get creative and bring your own jingly/twinkly decorations as well. Here’s what to expect:

-6:00 Bike decorating & hot cocoa at Drop Zone.

-6:15 Ride/run leaves Drop Zone following a route through the Cottage Park neighborhood

-7:00 Post ride celebration at Drop Zone.

All ages are welcome, but please make sure all cyclists can manage small hills & keep up with a group (no training wheels please). Details on Facebook. 

Family Holiday Dance Party will be held on Friday, Dec. 22 at 10:30 am at For Kids Only, 233 Winthrop Street.

Project Play & FKO have teamed up to host a (free!) family friendly, holiday dance party and musical performance with Rockabye Beats during the Friday morning playgroup. Doors will open at 9:30 for holiday themed sensory art & pretend play, and the dance party & concert will begin in the gym at 10:30. All are welcome to come move, groove and play in the new old fashioned way! Thank you to the MassCultural Council for making this free community event possible. 

CHA Opens Community Behavioral Health Center in Malden

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), a community health system serving Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston’s metro-north communities, opened a Community Behavioral Health Center (CBHC) location today at its Malden Care Center, located at 195 Canal Street, Malden. CHA is one of 25 designated Community Behavioral Health Centers operating statewide as part of an initiative launched by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts earlier this year to expand access to routine, urgent, and crisis treatment for mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

This is CHA’s second Community Behavioral Health Center site, having opened the first site at CHA Cambridge Hospital in January. Like the Cambridge location, the Malden CBHC site offers Behavioral Health Urgent Care daily, with same-day evaluation and referral to treatment. It also provides outpatient services in person and through video visits. There is a 24-hour phone line (833-222-2030) for people in crisis. CHA will also continue to provide 24/7 mobile crisis services in individuals’ homes, schools, or other community locations throughout Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Everett and Medford.

With these new services in place, CHA has two main outpatient psychiatry locations designed to get people connected to behavioral health treatment more quickly. Patients will also have access to additional support as needed, including specialty care, case management, recovery coaches, and peer specialist services.

The Cambridge Health Alliance CBHC serves the communities of Cambridge, Everett, Malden, Medford, and Somerville. Since January 2023, there have been more than 6,500 visits by individuals in crisis at the Cambridge CBHC site who received immediate evaluation and treatment and over 1,000 mobile visits to individuals in crisis in community locations.