HARTFORD — Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced on April 25 that the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission is next scheduled to meet on Friday, April 26, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Friday morning, the group will continue hearing presentations from behavioral health professionals on mental health services, specifically on the topics of violence and trauma.

The meeting begins at 9:30 am in hearing room 1A.

The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission is a 16-member panel of experts created by Governor Malloy to review current policy and make specific recommendations in the areas of public safety, with particular attention paid to school safety, mental health, and gun violence prevention.

Members of the commission are:

*Scott Jackson (Chair) (Mayor, Town of Hamden);

*Dr Adrienne Bentman (director, Adult Psychiatry Residency Program, Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living)

*Ron Chivinski (Newtown Middle School teacher);

*Robert Ducibella (Founding Principal, DVS Security Consulting and Engineering);

*Terry Edelstein (non-profit liaison to Governor Malloy);

*Kathleen Flaherty (staff attorney, Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc.; also facilitator and state trainer, National Alliance for Mental Illness in Connecticut);

*Dr Alice M. Forrester (executive director, Clifford W. Beers Guidance Clinic, Inc.);

*Dr Ezra Griffith (professor emeritus of and senior research scientist in psychiatry, deputy chair for diversity and organizational ethics, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University);

*Patricia Keavney-Maruca (member, State Board of Education; former technical high school teacher);

*Christopher Lyddy (program manager, trainer and consultant, Advanced Trauma Solutions, Inc.; dormer State Representative, 106th Assembly District of Newtown; former program director, Youth Equipped for Success!, Forensic Health Services, Inc.; former clinical supervisor, Juvenile Risk Reduction Center, Community Solutions, Inc.);

*Denis McCarthy (Fire Chief, City of Norwalk);

*Barbara O’Connor (director of public safety and Chief of Police, University of Connecticut);

*Wayne Sandford (professor, University of New Haven, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice & Forensic Sciences; former deputy commissioner, Connecticut Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security; former fire chief, Town of East Haven);

*Dr David J. Schonfeld (pediatrician-in-chief, St Christopher’s Hospital for Children; chair, department of pediatrics, Drexel University College of Medicine; director, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement);

*Dr Harold I. Schwartz (psychiatrist-in-chief, Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living; vice president, behavioral health, Hartford Hospital; professor of psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine); and

*Bernard R. Sullivan (former chief of police, City of Hartford; former commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Safety; former chief of staff to House Speaker Tom Ritter.

Additional information on the group, including details on how to contact its members and documents from each of their meetings, can be found online at www.ct.gov/SHAC.