Left to Right: Michael Weekes, President and CEO, Providers’ Council; Marian Ryan, District Attorney; and Jackie K. Moore, Chair, Providers’ Council Board of Directors.

District Attorney Marian Ryan was recently awarded the Providers’ Council 2017 State Employee of the year award at the 42^nd Annual Providers’ Convention and Expo in recognition of her exemplary commitment and support of Human Service Providers. The award acknowledged District Attorney Ryan’s creation of Project CARE (Child Assessment and Response Evaluation) a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership to provide immediate services to children who experience opioid-related trauma.

Project CARE is a partnership between the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the Middlesex County police departments and the Mental Health Association of Greater Lowell to provide a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week rapid response intervention program for children who witness a parent or loved one suffer an overdose. The goal is to help these children cope with trauma, build resiliency and decrease the likelihood that substance abuse will be transferred from one generation to the next.

District Attorney Ryan was nominated for the award by Dan Nakamoto, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of Greater Lowell. The Mental Health Association of Greater Lowell was the first organization to partner with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office as part of Project CARE, to provide mental health services to children who experience trauma. The Mental Health Association of Greater Lowell works to communicate and coordinate, as needed, with the Department of Children and Families, the local schools and other partners after to provide services to children following opioid-related trauma.

“I was pleased to nominate District Attorney Ryan for this award because it was her leadership that brought all the necessary entities to the table to discuss the impact the opioid crisis was having on young children in our community.  Once talking, it quickly became clear to all of us that we needed to act, and Project CARE was the result. The children and family members we’ve reached since the program’s inception have District Attorney Ryan to thank.”

The Providers’ Council is the state’s largest human service trade association, composed of state and private agencies that provide services for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities, veterans, children, senior citizens and those with mental health issues. Approximately 1,000 people attended the 42^nd Annual Providers’ Convention and Expo this year.