Comfort Dogs in Public Safety... Crisis to Resilience.

1 Day Pre-Conference Training & 2 Regular Conference Days March 25-26th

2 Full Scale Exercises / Mass Casualty and then DBH response.

Who Should Attend?

• Public Safety & Private Sector Dog Handlers
• Crisis/School Counselors
• Stakeholders for Crisis Mental Health Support
• Municipal Officials
• Public Safety Command Staff
• Risk Managment

This conference is for you!

Info: True resilience is built long before a crisis begins. Today, we focus on the foundational role of Full-Scale Exercises in creating operational readiness. We will discuss the strategic planning behind these drills and why 'practicing like we play' is essential for BPHC and other agencies. By laying this groundwork, we ensure that every participant understands their role in the framework, setting the stage for a deep dive into our recent performance and future improvements.

Info: LOCATION ALERT: UMass Boston Campus. Both full-scale exercises will take place at UMass Boston. Registration times subject to change.

Info: Times approximate and subject to change.

Info: Times approximate and subject to change.

Info: We believe an exercise is only as impactful as the insights it produces. Today, our goal is to 'Make Sense of It All' by uniting the voices of our presenters, controllers, evaluators, and participants. As we bridge the gap between field work and future strategy, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) is seeking your honest, unfiltered feedback.

Your unique perspective is the missing piece required to transform a tactical exercise into a resilience masterplan. Your ideas today will make a historic difference in the evolution of support programs and pro-active inclusion of comfort dogs.

These frameworks provide the structure, but it is the people who provide the heart. To honor that, we are currently hand-selecting a lineup of voices—from program pioneers to those whose lives were transformed by your dedication—to share their personal journeys. Stay tuned as we prepare to unveil a roster of speakers whose stories will challenge, inspire, and remind us exactly why we do what we do.

Info: Registration and enjoy a continental breakfast.

Info: This year, our theme is 'Beyond the Paw… A Path to Resilience.' Over the past two years, we have laid a foundation of care and compassion. But today is about more than just the immediate comfort our programs provide; it is about the lasting legacy of those efforts. We are here to explore how our collective work has built sustainable pathways for individuals to bounce back, grow, and thrive.

Throughout this conference, we will reflect on the lessons learned and celebrate our successes. Most importantly, we will hear directly from those whose lives have been changed by your dedication. Together, we’ll see how a single moment of comfort evolves into a lifetime of resilience.

Info: Excellent lunch served by MIT catering.

Info: t’s time to look under the hood of Exercise #2. We are bringing together everyone—from BPHC leadership and K9 First Responders to our evaluators and frontline participants—to conduct a transparent 'keep/toss/improve' analysis. To build a more resilient framework, BPHC needs your unfiltered perspective on what actually happened on the ground. Let’s determine together what worked and what we need to leave behind.

Info: To bring our second day to a meaningful close, we are honored to welcome a guest whose life story embodies the very essence of our mission. Today's final session is a deep dive into a personal journey of hope, resilience, and the transformative power of gratitude. After two days of strategy and evaluation, this speaker will remind us of the 'why' behind the work—offering a profound perspective on how the pathways we build lead to real-world restoration.

Info: On our final day, we reach the destination of our mission. 'The Journey Home' represents the ultimate success of our efforts—moving beyond crisis to a place of lasting stability. We will focus on the programs that provide this vital bridge for both Public Safety and our Communities.

Our speakers will share stories of hope and gratitude, illustrating how comfort dogs helped them come full circle and proving that the path to resilience leads us back to where we belong. We are currently finalizing our keynote voices—individuals who will share firsthand journeys of recovery and the gratitude they hold for these pathways. Stay tuned for this final reveal; it is the ultimate testament to what it means to build strength 'Beyond the Paw.'

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

MIT Building 50 - Walker Memorial - Morss Hall (https://whereis.mit.edu/?go=50), 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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