Derrick Kiser is the CEO and founder of Fresh Start Wellness Center. Fresh Start is a minority own non-profit that creates and implements mental health programs in the educational and criminal justice system. He started Fresh Start as a solution to a problem he directly lived through when he co-founded the first gang in Worcester, Ma, the second-largest city in New England. After his release from prison in 1996 and choosing a different path for his life, he began working directly with high-risk individuals in the school system, foster care/DYS, community-based in-home therapy, and prisons. He also acquired his master’s degree and is now a Licensed Mental Health Counselor “LMHC” and has National Gang Crime, Mindfulness and CBT Trauma Informed certifications. His strong working relationships with the Police, Probation, Sheriff, and District Attorney’s office, provide a strong foundation for real change. Derrick has also spoken to thousands of children in school and community settings, promoting mental health awareness, SUD risks and gang prevention/ intervention, and connected them with services when needed. This work is done on a primarily voluntary basis.Derrick's mission is to stop the trauma-to-substance, prison, homicide, and suicide pipeline. Through his four pillars of Self Care, Life Skills, Community Involvement, and Intervention/Prevention, these treatment methods have proven effective in engaging those typically resistant. His personalized self-help approach focuses on empowering positive life choices to replace self-defeating habits. To date, his practical approach to assisting individuals in locating and sustaining housing, completing vocational readiness training, managing a household budget, accessing transportation, and maintaining a job gives them a platform from which to build a stable and productive life. He views physical ailments as stored psychological painand provide physical treatment alongside mental counseling. When your body feels better, so does your mind. His programming is not one size fits all, but a menu approach to meet the needs of the individuals. Since opening Fresh Start, he has connected 347 adults involved with the criminal justice system with employment, 184 with mentalhealth support services and 93 with robust vocational educational training.These accolades, paired His involvement with the criminal justice system made him the leader needed to ” Build a healthy foundation for the next generation” You can go to our website Freshstart508.org to learn more. Watch a documentary about his life.