December 2020
Holden resident Barent (Barry) Walsh, Ph.D., has been named a Fellow by the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS). Dr. Walsh served as the Executive Director of The Bridge of Central Massachusetts for 40 years, retiring from the position in 2016. In 2018, The Bridge affiliated with Alternatives Unlimited, Inc. Now known as Open Sky Community Services, the affiliation provides services to more than 5,000 individuals across Central Massachusetts.
At Open Sky, Dr. Walsh currently holds the title of Executive Director Emeritus and Senior Clinical Consultant, providing consultation on suicidality and self-injury to agency clinical teams and individuals served by the organization. In addition, he provides trainings to mental health professionals and others through Open Sky’s Bridge Training Institute. Dr. Walsh is also a Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Health Alliance. He has written extensively and presented internationally on the topic of self-destructive behavior. He is the author of Treating Self-Injury: A Practical Guide 2nd edition, Guilford Press, (2014).
Dr. Stephen Lewis, Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the ISSS, characterized Dr. Walsh’s election to the Fellowship is an “award of recognition of the Fellow’s longstanding and substantial contributions to the advancement of the field of self-injury at the highest level.”
Open Sky President and CEO Ken Bates said the Fellowship was “incredible recognition of Dr. Walsh’s life’s work, helping countless individuals, building a more effective workforce and creating better systems of care. So well deserved!”