March 14, 2003

MGH Chelsea's PACT program celebrates five years of helping children

For the past five years, through the Police Action Counseling Team (PACT), MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center clinicians and Chelsea police officers have been working together to help children who have witnessed violence. On Feb. 5, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly joined Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH, at MGH Chelsea to present awards in honor of PACT's five-year anniversary. Above, from left, Reilly, Green, Chelsea Police Lieutenant Thomas Dunn, Chelsea Police Captain Donald Robitaille and Slavin

A community benefit program of the MGH and Partners HealthCare, the PACT program teams mental health professionals from MGH Chelsea with Chelsea police officers at the scene of cases of domestic violence, community violence, serious car accidents, apartment fires or other traumatic situations in which children are present. The goal of PACT is to reduce the immediate and long-term harmful effects of violence or trauma on children. To date, more than 750 children have been helped through the program.

Slavin and Reilly presented awards honoring those who have made outstanding leadership contributions to PACT. Award recipients included Georgia Green, LICSW, director of the PACT program, as well as the MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center, MGH Chelsea Mental Health and Social Services and the Chelsea Police Department. The Chelsea Senior Center and the Harbor Area Division of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services also were honored for their support of PACT.

Green described how she encouraged children to express the complicated feelings caused by the violence they experienced through creating artwork. Some of the artwork was displayed at the event as a powerful tribute to the group's important work. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Matt Fishman, director of Partners Community Benefits, presented a supply of markers, paper and stickers to the group to assist them in their work with children.