Opioid Settlement Funds in Massachusetts for Student Mental Health

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Opioid Settlement Funds in Massachusetts for Student Mental Health

August 25, 2026

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 12pm - 1pm ET

Westford Public Schools and Westford town officials share how they unlocked opioid settlement funds to launch and sustain student mental health support with Cartwheel — and how other Massachusetts districts and towns can do the same.

In this Article

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Massachusetts has more than $900 million in opioid settlement funds allocated to the state with much of it still waiting to be used by municipalities and school districts. For district administrators and town leaders trying to fund mental health support in their community, the funding is often available. What's missing is a playbook for how districts and municipalities can partner to access it.

Massachusetts has one of the clearest public systems in the country for tracking opioid settlement funds, and more districts and municipalities are starting to put that funding to work every year. What's less visible is what it actually takes to get there and that it works best as a joint effort. 

Westford Public Schools and the Town of Westford's Community Wellness office are a strong example: town and district leaders identified opioid settlement funding as a resource, partnered to bring it to the school district, and used it to launch school-based mental health support with Cartwheel. This session is about that partnership: how a school and its town worked together to make a real, lasting impact on mental health for students, families, and the community they share.

Why You Should Attend:

  • Understand how Massachusetts opioid settlement funds are structured and where district and town leaders can find out what's available to their community
  • Hear directly from a town wellness coordinator and a district counseling leader on how they have partnered to move this funding from idea to a sustained, district-wide program
  • Walk away with a practical starting point for opening this conversation with your own town or district leadership

Why This Matters:

District leaders know students need mental health support but budget constraints often stall the conversation before it starts. Opioid settlement funds are a real, available resource and the school districts making the most of them are doing it through sustainable partnerships. This session gives district and town leaders a concrete model for partnering on funding to positively impact students, families and their communities.

About the speakers

Lauren Clark

Director of School Counseling

Westford Academy

Lauren has led the Westford Academy Counseling Department since 2021, previously serving as Department Head of School Counseling and Director of School Counseling at Wachusett Regional High School. She holds a degree in Psychology from Siena College. She'll share what the Cartwheel partnership has meant for students and staff, and how close collaboration with the town's wellness office made it possible.

Nicole Laviolette

Community Wellness Coordinator

Town of Westford, MA

Nicole has spent more than 20 years in nonprofit social service and family and youth work before joining the Town of Westford as its first Community Wellness Coordinator, a role under the Town Manager's office focused on connecting residents, schools, and town departments to mental health and substance use resources. She led Westford's outreach on opioid settlement funding including gathering input from residents with lived experience and helped bring the idea to Westford Public Schools, laying the groundwork for the district's partnership with Cartwheel.

Stacy Swasey, LICSW

Program Manager

Cartwheel

Stacy is a Program Manager at Cartwheel, where she works closely with district and town partners on program design and expansion. She'll moderate the conversation, drawing on her clinical background as an LICSW to ground the discussion on what this partnership has meant for students.

Alvin Padolina

Account Executive

Cartwheel

Alvin is an Account Executive at Cartwheel and host of the conversation. He works throughout Massachusetts working with Superintendents and education leaders to understand their unique challenges and how school-based mental health support improves students outcomes.

Massachusetts has more than $900 million in opioid settlement funds allocated to the state with much of it still waiting to be used by municipalities and school districts. For district administrators and town leaders trying to fund mental health support in their community, the funding is often available. What's missing is a playbook for how districts and municipalities can partner to access it.

Massachusetts has one of the clearest public systems in the country for tracking opioid settlement funds, and more districts and municipalities are starting to put that funding to work every year. What's less visible is what it actually takes to get there and that it works best as a joint effort. 

Westford Public Schools and the Town of Westford's Community Wellness office are a strong example: town and district leaders identified opioid settlement funding as a resource, partnered to bring it to the school district, and used it to launch school-based mental health support with Cartwheel. This session is about that partnership: how a school and its town worked together to make a real, lasting impact on mental health for students, families, and the community they share.

Why You Should Attend:

  • Understand how Massachusetts opioid settlement funds are structured and where district and town leaders can find out what's available to their community
  • Hear directly from a town wellness coordinator and a district counseling leader on how they have partnered to move this funding from idea to a sustained, district-wide program
  • Walk away with a practical starting point for opening this conversation with your own town or district leadership

Why This Matters:

District leaders know students need mental health support but budget constraints often stall the conversation before it starts. Opioid settlement funds are a real, available resource and the school districts making the most of them are doing it through sustainable partnerships. This session gives district and town leaders a concrete model for partnering on funding to positively impact students, families and their communities.

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Meet the speakers

Lauren Clark

Director of School Counseling

Westford Academy

Lauren has led the Westford Academy Counseling Department since 2021, previously serving as Department Head of School Counseling and Director of School Counseling at Wachusett Regional High School. She holds a degree in Psychology from Siena College. She'll share what the Cartwheel partnership has meant for students and staff, and how close collaboration with the town's wellness office made it possible.

Nicole Laviolette

Community Wellness Coordinator

Town of Westford, MA

Nicole has spent more than 20 years in nonprofit social service and family and youth work before joining the Town of Westford as its first Community Wellness Coordinator, a role under the Town Manager's office focused on connecting residents, schools, and town departments to mental health and substance use resources. She led Westford's outreach on opioid settlement funding including gathering input from residents with lived experience and helped bring the idea to Westford Public Schools, laying the groundwork for the district's partnership with Cartwheel.

Stacy Swasey, LICSW

Program Manager

Cartwheel

Stacy is a Program Manager at Cartwheel, where she works closely with district and town partners on program design and expansion. She'll moderate the conversation, drawing on her clinical background as an LICSW to ground the discussion on what this partnership has meant for students.

Alvin Padolina

Account Executive

Cartwheel

Alvin is an Account Executive at Cartwheel and host of the conversation. He works throughout Massachusetts working with Superintendents and education leaders to understand their unique challenges and how school-based mental health support improves students outcomes.

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