Free/Discounted Care Resources

Free or Discounted
Complementary or Alternative
Health and Wellness Care in New England:

A Resource Guide for Those
Unable to Pay Full Price

If you are seeking complementary or alternative care but cannot afford to pay for these therapies, this guide is for you.  First, read through the helpful tips below.  Second, view the listing that follows of New England healthcare providers that offer care for free or at a discount.  Remember, you have a right to a wide range of health and wellness care options, whatever your income.  The IMA urges you to contact your elected representatives to request that they recognize and work to implement this fundamental right.

Seven Tips for Getting Complementary or Alternative Healthcare for Free or at an Affordable Price

1.   Assess what you truly can afford. Get clear about what you can afford and about your options for addressing your healthcare goals. You may want to consider where you are spending your money. Is it on your health and wellness or on other priorities such as cable TV, travel or dining out. Be careful not to be penny-wise and pound-foolish—consider both short and long-term financial consequences of your healthcare choices. Also remember that for alternative caregivers have bills to pay and mouths to feed, too.

2.  Check with your insurer.  Your health insurance company or your state's free/discounted care program may cover or offer discounted health and wellness services such as chiropractic, yoga, or t'ai chi classes.  If you are injured at work, your worker's compensation program may allow for free or discounted therapies such chiropractic or massage.  Call worker's comp and find out their current policies.  If worker's comp doesn't cover the therapy you want, make a point of letting them know your wishes--many insurers are considering expanding their coverage to include certain alternative therapies; they need to hear from you.

3. Negotiate a fee with a therapist.  Some complementary or alternative therapists or health centers have sliding scale fees or will accept you for free or at a discount if you explain that you cannot afford the full price.  Some will offer you a discount if you commit to a series of treatments.  It doesn't hurt to ask.

4. Ask about the possibility of bartering.  Some complementary or alternative therapists may agree to give you free treatments in exchange for a service they need from you, such as home or office repair, childcare, meal preparation, or handiwork.  It's worth inquiring.

5. Practice self-care.  The responsibility for your health and wellness rests primarily with you. For the price of a book or video, or a trip to your local library, or even by searching the Internet--you can learn about many approaches to self-care. Seek out what you can do for yourself and integrate that into the care you receive from others.

6. Consider healing prayer or distant healing.  Countless individuals and organizations around the world practice these forms of healthcare and regularly offer this form of care for free. You can contact places of worship in your neighborhood or reach out to family and friends for this form of healing. We invite you to explore the IMA's Online Distant Healing Clinic.

7. Visit a community herb garden.  Many community gardens can provide expertise on how to grow your own medicinal herbs on your windowsill or how to responsibly harvest safe ones growing wild in your neighborhood's public spaces.  There are hundreds of community gardens throughout New England.  Visit the American Community Gardening Association at www.communitygarden.org for more information.

8. Consider taking part in a complementary or alternative medical clinical trial. More and more clinical trials are underway to establish the effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies. There may be a clinical trial near you that can offer you free or discounted care by qualified practitioners to treat your condition. Consult the National Institutes of Health clinical trials database at http://clinicaltrials.gov to see if they are recruiting near you.

9. Reach out to your community.  Let people in your neighborhood, your place of worship, your school, and other places you may frequent know about your health situation and your inability to pay full price for the care you need.  They may know of qualified caregivers who may be able to help you for free or at a discount, or they may offer other solutions.

Directory of Free or Discounted
Complementary or Alternative
Health and Wellness Care
Services in New England

NOTICE: By providing these links, the Integrative Medicine Alliance has no affiliation with and makes no endorsement of any business, organization, religion, practitioner, product, or therapy linked to below.   The IMA reserves the right to remove any link.  We urge you to contact your physician and/or health team before trying any new therapy or health practitioner.  If you do decide to seek treatment from a practitioner or organization listed below, please notify your physician and/or health team so that you and all healthcare practitioners may work together to help maximize your healing process.

(If you are a qualified health and wellness practitioner offering free or heavily discounted care to the public on a regular basis and would like the IMA to consider adding your contact information to these listings, please contact the IMA Administrator at Admin@integrativemedalliance.org). 

Open Doors
360 Washington Street
Brighton, MA 02135
Telephone: (617) 202-6333
Additional location:
395A Washington Street
Braintree, MA 02184
Telephone: (781) 843-8224
Website: www.opendoors7.com
Services: Free weekly energy healing and meditation sessions. Reiki, Johrei, Essene Therapy, and meditation are available at the Braintree location. Reiki and Chinese Energetic healing are available at the Brighton location.
Cost: Free, but a donation of any amount is requested. Donations are sent to local charities.
Open to: General public.

Pathways to Wellness
1601 Washington St., 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02118
617-859-3036
Website: www.pathwaysboston.org
Services: Complementary/alternative therapies such as: Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and shiatsu.
Cost: For service fees and possible discounts contact Pathways to Wellness.
Open to: General public.

MASSAGE/BODYWORK - STUDENT CLINICS

Schools of massage or bodywork usually require that students provide treatments under the guidance of their teachers in order to graduate. 

Cost: Student massage/bodywork clinics typically charge $25-35 for a one-hour session, which is roughly one half to one third the price of a professional treatment.
Open to: The clinics below are all open to the public.

Spa Tech Institute
Student Massage and Polarity Therapy Clinic
Ipswich, MA
http://www.spatech.edu/

Cortiva Institute (formerly Muscular Therapy Institute)
Student Therapy Center
Cambridge, MA
http://www.cortiva.com/locations/mti/clinic/

North Eastern Institute of Whole Health
Student Massage Clinic
Manchester, NH
www.neiwh.com/NEIWH/home.htm

FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS

Boston Living Center
29 Stanhope Street
Boston, MA 02116
Telephone: 617-236-1012
Website: www.bostonlivingcenter.org
Services: The BLC is a Community Resource Center for people with HIV/AIDS, offering programs and services that provide education, information and support.
Programs and services include: therapeutic massage, foot reflexology, reiki, energy healing/balancing, TheraSound, chiropractic, passes to
local health clubs, and counseling.
Cost: Free. Donations accepted but not required.
Open to: Individuals with HIV/AIDS (free BLC membership required).  One appointment allowed per month.

FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH CANCER

Healing With Hope
NSMC/Union Hospital
500 Lynnfield St.
Lynn, MA 01904

For information, call (781) 477-3505.
Services: Support group for anyone experiencing cancer anywhere on the journey.
Cost: Free, supported by the Northshore Cancer Center.

Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, Inc.
PO Box 145
145 Bolton Rd.
Harvard. MA 01451
telephone: 978.456.3532
Website: http://www.healinggarden.net/Services.php
Services: acupuncture, counseling, educational workshops, expressive therapies of art, dance, and writing, gardening as therapy, meditation/visualization/self-hypnosis, nutritional counseling, therapeutic massage, polarity, reiki, and yoga.
Cost: Support groups are free. All other services are free for those unable to pay.  For those who can pay, the fee is negotiated with individual therapists.
Open to: Individuals with breast cancer.

SPIRITUAL HEALING

Oratory of the Little Way
Healing Prayer Service
PO Box 221
Gaylordsville, CT 06755
E-mail: office@oratoryhealing.org
Website: www.oratoryhealing.org
Telephone: 860-354-8294
Services: Healing Prayer (Christian)
Cost: Free. Donations accepted but not required.
Hours: Public healing service every Tuesday at the Kent Congregational Church, 97 North Main Street, Kent, CT. Public healing service on the third Sunday of every month at the New Milford Hospital, 21 Elm Street, New Milford, CT.