On January 12th & 18th Ellen Dalton introduced The NAN Project to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Opioid Task Force meetings in Lowell and Medford. This was a huge step for us, seeing as there were representatives from all over Middlesex County attending. The DA Marian Ryan has been amazing about promoting community based organizations to combat the opioid crisis, and fully understand how this crisis overlaps greatly with mental illness. After all, there is a link between drug use, depression, and suicidality.
We made many great connections at the Task Force meetings, opening the doors of communication with the Greater Lowell and Middlesex County Departments of Health, as well as the Police, Fire, and Emergency Services Departments. Our next steps are to bring our programing into the schools of Lowell and throughout Middlesex County.
The NAN Project will be presenting at the next Middlesex District Opioid Task Force meeting in Framingham at the end of March. We will continue and try our hardest to advocate about mental health and the resources available in our communities.