Photo/Melanie Petrucci
SHREWSBURY – Christine Mowry, the executive director of Shrewsbury Youth and Family Services (SYFS), will retire after eight years of service.
Mowry oversaw the agency’s significant growth in recent years. When she started, SYFS had two employees and managed $250,000 annually, but today the agency has expanded considerably, moving into larger buildings, hiring more staff and growing its reach from just Shrewsbury to providing programming across the state. The group has partnered with over 200 schools and organizations to date.
In a press release given to the Community Advocate, SYFS Board Chair Scott Wyman said that under Mowry’s leadership, “SYFS experienced significant clinical and geographical expansion. A number of innovative new programs were developed… [and Mowry] leaves the agency with fiscal stability and an incredibly talented and dedicated staff.”
Mowry’s time at SYFS was also marked by numerous accomplishments. In 2019, SYFS was chosen to implement the teen mental health first aid pilot program funded by Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. In 2022, the group was awarded a $500,000 federal grant to continue its mental health first aid work.
In 2018, Mowry was the recipient of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women Unsung Heroine Award, honoring her work in mental health first aid.
“I feel incredibly proud of the impact and reach of our services and programs,” Mowry told the Community Advocate. “I am especially proud of the ‘Best of the Best’ team I have assembled.”
“It is not without deep sadness that I leave the agency. It has been a very important part of my personal and professional growth, and I will be forever grateful for this chapter of my life and for the difference I was able to make in my corner of the world,” she continued.
Wyman said that the SYFS was “incredibly grateful to [Mowry] for the energy, vision, and heart that she dedicated to our organization and the clients we serve over these past eight years.”
Mowry’s retirement will be effective June 30, 2023. Afterward, she “will remain with the agency in a diminished capacity to ensure a seamless transition to her successor.”
A search committee has been assembled and the board of directors has begun the process of permanently filling the executive director position.
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