Teenage Anxiety and Depressions Solutions
Steve Boczenowski, Founder

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

*Joint Release* Pepperell Police and TADS Host Multi-Community Criminal Justice & Mental Health Forum

Stakeholders from Ten Towns Receive Information of Emergency Service Programs

PEPPERELL – Chief David Scott is pleased to announce that the Pepperell Police Department attended the Multi-Community Criminal Justice and Mental Health Forum last Friday.

The event, held at the Groton Country Club, served as both an educational forum and a place for community collaboration. The goal of the event was to give the ten towns under the jurisdiction of Ayer District Court a starting point for a district-wide initiative to keep those suffering from mental illness and addiction out of jail and place them into recovery programs.

In addition to attending, Chief Scott was one of the forum organizers, endorsing the mission of principal organizer Steve Boczenowski, founder of Teenage Anxiety and Depression Solutions (TADS). Karin Orr, the Northeast Area Forensic Director of the Department of Mental Health, also co-led the event.

“I am proud to have played a role in last week’s forum,” Chief Scott said. “This was the first collaborative event of its kind with this specific community, and it would not have been possible without all our dedicated event organizers and speakers who volunteered their time to start this incredibly productive conversation.”

Emergency response departments from the following towns attended the event: Boxborough, Littleton, Groton, Dunstable, Westford, Ayer, Shirley, Pepperell, Townsend and Ashby. Representatives from various school districts, counseling services, hospitals, and crisis management centers also attended.

Topics covered at the forum included creating a local resource map, demographics of the Ayer region’s jurisdiction, crisis assessments, the commitment threshold, children’s behavioral and crisis intervention, and an example of regional police collaboration.

“This forum would not have been possible without the support of Chief Scott,” Boczenowski said. “He was my go to guy on a number of issues and, frankly, the event would not have been nearly as successful without him lending his credibility to it.”

About TADS:

Teenage Anxiety and Depression Solutions (TADS) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission to address mental health issues by raising awareness, providing education, and enabling access to care. TADS was founded by Steve & Deb Boczenowski in 2011 as a response to losing their 21 year-old son, Jeffrey, to suicide.

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