Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well after the storms at the beginning of the week. Western Mass, especially towns in Berkshire County, experienced some serious flooding this week and I want to thank all the first responders and public works employees who were on the scene.
This week started off strong with a hearing for the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery. We heard testimony from advocates and lawmakers on a number of bills focused on growing and training our behavioral health workforce. With committee hearings underway, I’m excited to work with my colleagues to advance policies that expand critical care and meet the behavioral health needs of individuals across the state.
On Tuesday, my team hosted office hours in Chicopee. Later, I attended a meeting with Neighbor 2 Neighbor’s Holyoke chapter. N2N is a volunteer driven non-profit organization that works to fight for important causes in our community by bringing people together to create change.
Office hours were hosted in West Springfield by my team on Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who stopped by this week to share their concerns or ask questions. That night I was happy to attend a Greek Night event hosted by Shortstop Bar and Grill in Westfield, an especially fun way for me to get out into the community!
I was also able to attend multiple ribbon-cutting ceremonies this week – Pioneer Valley On The Move on Wednesday and Five Star Food Mart on Thursday. It was great to be able to welcome these new businesses into our community and I have no doubt they will be valued additions to our district.
On Friday, I had a meeting to discuss Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) in schools. MCPAP works to improve treatment for children with behavioral health needs and their families by making child psychiatry services readily available to primary care providers across the state. Later in the day, I attended a presentation by Westfield State University’s Mental Health Hub alongside Department of Mental Health Commission Brooke Doyle to discuss their community-based approach to improving behavioral health in the Western Massachusetts. These meetings are part of our on-going effort to ensure that the Commonwealth is thoughtfully adapting to address the behavioral and mental health challenges we are seeing.
Next week’s office hours will be held at the Easthampton Council on Aging on Tuesday at 10:30 AM, and at the Holyoke Council on Aging on Wednesday at 10 AM. If you are unable to attend office hours, I can always be reached by phone at (413) 572-3920, by email at john.velis@masenate.gov, and you can find me online at senatorjohnvelis.com.
Sincerely,
John Velis