Billerica Police | MA

The Front Line Initiative integrates self-care prevention platform from CredibleMind into mental health support program in Tewksbury, Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut and Tyngsborough Massachusetts

January 15, 2021— With citizens and police staff grappling with the confluence of a pandemic, civil unrest, and financial insecurity, the Front Line Initiative has expanded its spectrum of mental health services and programs to include CredibleMind’s self-care prevention platform. The Initiative currently helps provide residents of Chelmsford, Billerica, Dracut, Tewksbury and Tyngsborough, Massachusetts with access to mental health clinicians and peer support staff. The Initiative, thus far, has saved millions of dollars in emergency room diversion and criminal custody diversion costs. Now the Initiative wants to decrease the overall incidence by expanding from treating the crisis to preventing the illness crisis through self-care.

Facing access and stigma issues, self-care approaches have become a fundamental pillar of mental health, widening access to well-being strategies, and reducing the burden on the current care network. Self-care emphasizes the active role of people in purposeful and continuous care, helping create more positive and resilient individuals. CredibleMind brings to the Initiative the most comprehensive self-care solution, promoting mental wellness, preventing mental illness, and intervening at the beginning of illness. The customized platform provides education and supportive interventions to reduce or eliminate risk factors throughout the community and police force.

“Since 2016 we’ve been providing our communities with a direct connection to behavioral health and substance use services in a whole-person, trauma-informed way,” said Matthew Page-Shelton, M.F.A, M.Ed., LMHC, Regional Director of The Front Line Initiative. “The pandemic has only amplified how essential this support is and CredibleMind is a key component to broadening our reach and integrating prevention and early intervention strategies,” he added.

“We have seen first-hand how the stressors of today’s fast paced life have impacted our community’s health and well-being. As a collaborative, we are excited to offer these proven internet based self-help tools to our community, bringing the power of safe and immediate access to a range of self-care prevention platforms to everyone with access to a computer”, says Chief Daniel Rosa.

“Given recent tensions and the plethora of current health, social and economic stressors, it’s an important strategy to proactively support the mental health of both the police force and community served,” said Deryk Van Brunt, Ph.D., and CEO of CredibleMind. “With the vast majority of people seeking mental health interventions on their own, CredibleMind provides the Initiative a personalized approach for navigating thousands of evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention self-care strategies.”

“As feelings of uncertainty, vulnerability, anxiety, isolation and loneliness are taking their toll on citizens across our communities we felt it was important to seek out new innovative ways of engaging with our communities,” Matthew Page-Shelton Regional Director for Front Line stated. “95% of those individuals will reach out online to look for information.”

With over 240 topics CredibleMind provides access to a wide range of evidence-based resources that are not meant to replace appropriate professional in-person care, but as a tool to find information. All information accessed and submitted on the online resource by residents is confidential and anonymous.

This new online resource can be accessed as of January 15th 2021 at https://frontline.crediblemind.com

Billerica – On Friday, January 8, 2021, at approximately 0830 AM, the Billerica Police Department received a frantic call reporting an individual had possibly shot himself in the area of 7 Bridge Street, which is a commercial building consisting of various independent businesses. The caller explained that they were not on site and had been contacted by another witness who was still on scene. Within minutes of the report, police arrived on scene and met with the witness. Police subsequently learned that an armed and emotionally disturbed adult male was currently located inside a mobile home trailer parked on the site. Police were informed by the witness that the involved party had just discharged a weapon while inside the mobile home trailer and their condition was unknown. As police attempted to enter the trailer to check on the well-being of the involved party, they quickly determined the subject was alive, agitated and highly emotional and had barricaded themselves inside the trailer. Due to the obvious safety concerns for the community, which included a bordering residential neighborhood along with a McDonald’s Restaurant abutting the incident location, police quickly decided to issue a shelter-in-place order to surrounding homes and businesses while also shutting down vehicular traffic on Bridge Street. A request for assistance was made for additional emergency resources, including EMS and Fire, along with NEMLEC and the Massachusetts State Police. As part of the NEMLEC response, trained Negotiators were utilized to establish communication with the armed, emotionally disturbed individual, who was barricaded inside the trailer. After approximately 90 minutes of negotiation, the subject surrendered peacefully and was placed into protective custody for transportation to Lowell General Hospital, Saints Campus, for a medical and mental health evaluation. Nobody was injured as a result of this incident.

As a result of the above events, the Billerica Police are actively evaluating potential criminal charges related to the subject’s actions, including possession and discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, in violation of MGL Chapter 269 Section 12E, as well as other potential violations of the Massachusetts General Laws.