About the Practice
Mental wellness is whole-body wellness.
Beryllium Psychiatric Services is a physician-led private practice providing trauma-informed mental health care to adolescents and adults, alongside life coaching and wellness support.
Our Mission
Care that treats the person, not the diagnosis.
Beryllium exists to care for the person, not only the diagnosis — with time to understand a patient's history, family and daily life before a treatment plan is formed. Clinical services and the conditions treated are detailed on the Psychiatric Services page.
Our Vision
To transform your story into your healing story.
Every patient arrives with a history. That history is not an obstacle to treatment — it is part of the clinical picture, and part of what makes recovery durable.
Meet the Founder
Dr. Karen Abdool
Dr. Karen Abdool is a psychiatrist, physician-scientist, educator, and founder of Beryllium Psychiatric Services. She combines evidence-based psychiatric care with attention to the connections between mental health, physical wellness, nutrition, lifestyle, and trauma.
She received her medical degree from Howard University in Washington, DC, where she also earned a PhD in Microbiology with an emphasis in immunology. She completed her psychiatry residency training through the Brigham and Women's, Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Residency Program, and went on to complete certification in the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and Global Mental Health.
Dr. Abdool founded Beryllium Psychiatric Services on the premise that healing must occur in the individual, the family and the community. Over the years she has worked to provide quality medical care, education and support for individuals, families, churches and other community organizations.
Her goal is to help every patient feel heard, understood and empowered through personalized care that supports lasting wellness.
I have learned that ‘mental illness’ is a series of complex health conditions that affect the mind and body. Our philosophy of care aims to target five pillars we believe are critical for good mental health: nutrition, exercise, rest, therapy and medication when needed.
Education & Training
- MD — Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC
- PhD in Microbiology, emphasis in immunology — Howard University
- Psychiatry residency — Brigham and Women's / Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Residency Program
- Certification — Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and Global Mental Health
The Story Behind Beryllium
A traumatic beginning became a healing narrative.
Beryllium Psychiatric Services was born out of living stories — stories that were unfolding long before this practice existed. Together they weave a beautifully imperfect tapestry of love, compassion, strength, intelligence, pain, trauma and resilience. They are the source of the values this company is built on. There are many, but one inspired the name.
My grandmother, Beryl Bell Murrell, was one of the most resilient women I have ever known. She lost her own mother when she was three years old. Her stepmother was cruel, physically and emotionally abusive to her and her two sisters. The girls left home to live with an uncle instead, and in the process my grandmother left school after the third grade, tending his home rather than continuing her education. She later married my grandfather, Allan Peter Murrell. They had five children — the youngest of whom is my mother, Jacklyn.
My grandmother used her strengths to build and run a tailoring business from her home. She became known as a master seamstress in her community, and her skill proved invaluable to her family. She sewed the clothes for her children and eventually her grandchildren, including me. She was not perfect; because of her own harsh childhood, she was a force of nature in our lives. But as is so often true of traumatic life stories, her vision of a loving, happy, nurtured family was realized through the difficult and imperfect as much as through the wonderful.
And so the girl with the traumatic beginning wrote a healing trauma narrative. Her third-grade education left her with such hunger for knowledge that she married an intellect and raised a family of teachers, mathematicians, accountants, nurses, artists, musicians, ministers — and physicians. The abused child grew a family filled with love, strength and joy. Her name, Beryl, represents everything she was and the legacy she left.
Your story brought you here. However difficult things are right now, your story can become your healing story.
Our Approach
Three philosophies of care.
Mental wellness is whole-body wellness
The mind and brain are connected to the rest of the body. Mental illness is not isolated to the mind — it involves a complex interaction of body systems. Care at Beryllium begins with deepening your understanding of how your body responds to stress.
Education is critical to treatment
We believe in an educated patient. We work with you to increase awareness of your mental and physical strengths and struggles, and craft a personalized plan of care suited to your specific needs.
Build the person, build the family, build the community
Whether we are working with executives, physicians, community and faith groups, parents, or young and older adults, personal healing is family and community healing. We work with organizations and communities to build environments where mental health is supported.
Why Patients Choose Beryllium
Physician-led care with continuity and depth.
Continuity of care
Evaluation, medication management and psychotherapy can be provided within one physician-led treatment relationship, reducing fragmentation of care.
Medical + psychiatric perspective
Dr. Abdool's physician-scientist background informs an approach that considers physical health alongside mood, thought, stress and behavior.
Trauma-informed practice
Trauma history is treated as clinical information and care is paced with consent and clarity. The full treatment approach is detailed on the Psychiatric Services page.
Time and attention
Beryllium's private-practice model allows time to understand the person behind the symptoms and develop an individualized treatment plan.
Recognition, Affiliations & Community Impact
Work that reaches past the exam room.
Beryllium was founded on the premise that healing must occur in the individual, the family and the community. Dr. Abdool's professional and community work — with physicians, families, faith communities and public health collaboratives — continues alongside the practice's clinical care.
Recognition
- 2026 Black Excellence on The Hill award recipient — Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, recognizing distinguished Black leaders in Massachusetts
- City of Winchester recognition for excellence in mental health care
Professional & Community Affiliations
- New England Medical Association — regional organization associated with the National Medical Association
- National Medical Association — through affiliation with NEMA
- Massachusetts Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative — spring summit participation on holistic approaches to peripartum and postpartum depression
- National Association of Health Services Executives — Black Maternal Health programming, two consecutive years
Community Partnerships & Programs
- Surviving White Coat Trauma and Racism — program supporting physicians facing racism and workplace trauma, led through the New England Medical Association
- Studio on the Common, Winchester — partnership programming supporting women through stressful life transitions