BIOGRAPHY

David Marcus

President & Founder - Advocate and Activist

David is the single father of two children, aged 12 and 19.  He has interfaced with many agencies, including DCF, DMHAS, DDS, and the CT Family Law system, including Family Relations, and various Guardian Ad Litem, and Attorneys for the Minor Children.  He is a 2016 graduate of the Parent Leadership Training Institute, an associate of the National Parent Leadership Institute, as well as a  graduate and associate of Advocacy Unlimited and the National Fatherhood Initiative Program, as well as a member of Family Forward Advocacy, Inc. 

He has been acknowledged by the Connecticut General Assembly Legislators for his advocacy efforts, having submitted written and oral testimony to the legislative bodies in the areas of mental health and family law, has made radio and televised appearances for advocacy issues, including mental health and family/juvenile court and DCF issues, and televised appearances on CT-N Cable Network for his Parent Leadership Training Institute graduation, as the featured class speaker. He also served as a member of The Alliance For Childhood Mental Health board, assisting children in the State of Connecticut.. 

David is an associate of NAMI-CT, having been trained as a facilitator in family therapy groups and NAMI SMARTS, which includes training people to contact their legislators.  He is also a member of the Keep the Promise Coalition ("KTP"), and has assisted with maintaining their website.  Additionally, he was certified as a Recovery Support Specialist ("RSS") in November 2020, which supports peer mental health/addiction recovery.

Other experience includes attending CASY autism spectrum social events at Yale Child Study, knowledge of psychopharmacology, working with childhood behavior disorders, as well as advocating in childhood education settings.   He has attended Special Education PPT's in-school and design of IEP's for these students, and has associated with Yale Child Study/SPARK on autism workshops, and Silver Hill Hospital on their virtual grand rounds presentations.  He  volunteers as a group facilitator for Silver Hill as well.  David is part of the DCF Regional Advisory Council for DCF for lower Connecticut.

in 2017, David attended the Childcare Aware Of America conference in Washington, D.C. as the representative for Connecticut, and lobbied senators and representatives on Capitol Hill in discussion of pertinent child care issues affecting the state.  He has met with CT Senator Murphy's office in Hartford, as well as providing Senator Blumenthal and Representative Jim Himes offices with information on child and mental health issues.  A trip to Washington D.C. in August of 2020 entailed activism involving separation of families.  

David has many years of professional experience with such companies as IBM and General Electric in Information Technology,  including network architecture, network engineering, and computer programming, and holds the office of Notary Public in the State Of Connecticut.