When is a mob a good thing? When it is a Flash mob, of course. By Brendan Bartlett.

For the past several years, Family Continuity has participated in the Blackstone Valley Business expo presented through the Chamber of Commerce.  This year it was discussed in team meeting that we wanted to bring more attention to Family Continuity at the Expo itself.  One of our staff members suggested a Flash Mob and everyone got behind it.  An organizational team was formed and the Flash Mob was coordinated.  Some folks had the T-Shirts made, some coordinated the signs and others choreographed the dance moves.  We practiced at the end of staff meeting for a few weeks and really pulled it off.  We had some technical difficulty with our music system which resulted in us singing "We are Family" while we finished our dance, but it was well received to those who witnessed it.

Who says that work can't be fun?

Group

Making Connections is a co-ed group of individuals with high functioning spectrum disorders and difficulties with expected social interactions for ages 16+.  Those involved in the group are asked to shared events, thoughts and feelings that they experienced within the past week and gather social feedback from peers to help manage their thoughts, feelings and behaviors around their experience.  Group also has a strong social component where participants are encouraged to freely interact with other group members through game play, conversation and sharing interests.  Making Connections Group.

Family Corner 

 Tragedy can, and probably will eventually hit every family. It can change our lives forever. And while these losses leave holes that can never be filled, they can also lead us in directions that can change the lives of many others. Family Continuity Board member, Steve Boczenowski shares his very personal story as a case in point for us all.

 In the early morning hours of December 1st, 2009, my wife, Deb, and I lay awake.  We'd awoken a few hours earlier to discover that our 21 year old son, Jeffrey, was not at home.  In a panic, we made all the telephone calls we could think to make.  Now, there was nothing left for us to do except to wait to hear back from someone who could provide information about our son.  I don't recall the specific words we spoke in those moments, but in the darkness we realized that the news might be very bad, and we acknowledged that many parents who experience tragedies with their children also lose their marriage.  And so we pledged to each other that we would stay together and support each other, no matter what would come our way.

 Later that morning, Jeffrey's body was found at the side of the road in a peaceful spot near our home.  He was rushed to the hospital in a vain attempt to save him.  While they worked on our son, we realized that it was just a matter of time before they made the official pronouncement of his death.  As the hours passed, our thoughts turned to our other child, Stephanie, who was living in North Carolina at the time.  My first task after Jeff's death was to call Stephanie and tell her that her brother had died.  I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.  Next, we had to figure out how to get her home.  Stephanie was essentially incapacitated, but through a series of lucky strokes, she arrived back in Boston by mid-afternoon. Our family, what was left of it; was grief-stricken, but we were together and there was some comfort in that.

The next morning I found a note that Jeff had left for us, and that was the way that we determined Jeff's death was a suicide.

In the days and weeks that followed, a group of loving friends approached us to propose that we work with them to develop a community response to this tragedy.  Six months later, we held a well-received, well-attended community forum.  Eventually our group of friends formed a non-profit organization, Teenage Anxiety and Depression Solutions (TADS).

The mission of TADS is to address mental health issues in our community by raising awareness, providing education, and enabling access to care.  In this way we hope to provide parents and educators with practical and tangible tools to help young people who are struggling with mental health issues.

 Doing this work, we encounter a lot of different people, which allows us to do a few other things.  We address the problem of stigma of mental health issues in our society.  We get the opportunity to advocate for causes we believe in with state and local government.  And we get to meet other parents who are struggling the way we have struggled.  It's in those quiet moments - sharing stories, holding hands, just being there for each other - that we do some of our most important work.

 These efforts would not be possible without a stable and loving family.  For several months, Deb and I struggled just to keep an even keel.  But we've managed to keep the pledge we made during those terrible hours, and to our great joy, Stephanie has moved closer to home.  Last summer, our small family gained a new member when Stephanie got married.  Our new son-in-law, Matt, is a terrific young man and Deb and I were quite pleased to welcome him to our family.

Jeffrey's death has left a hole in our lives that will never be filled, but we have survived and we have recovered.  Jeffrey still has a special place in our hearts, and though life would be happier with him here, we look forward to happy times in the future with our own family continuity.

To learn more about the work of Steve and Deb's work, and that of TADS, Teenage Anxiety and Depression Solutions the organization they founded at www.tadsma.org/.