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Reflections on a career Youth and Family Services director John Badenhausen retiring after 23 years

Westborough News - 7/6/2018

WESTBOROUGH - For the past 23 years, Westborough Youth and Family Services Director John Badenhausen has helped lead his department in an ever-changing environment with a focus on community guidance.

On Aug. 31, he will retire and leave a legacy as a counselor and human services department head that anybody would be proud of. This is particularly impressive because Badenhausen originally went to school for electrical engineering.

"I did the engineering thing for a while and decided that I wasn't as happy as I would like to be so I went to grad school and got my masters," Badenhausen said.

Badenhausen received a master's degree in counseling psychology from Lesley University and began working in Westborough as the WYFS director in 1995, though the position was called coordinator back then.

As for why Badenhausen has chosen to dedicate his life to community counseling in a community that he doesn't even live in, that answer is simple.

"I like helping people," said Badenhausen. "It has been a really nice opportunity to do that and to be an important part of the community."

Over the years, Badenhausen has led the department to expand and become a bigger part of the town. In addition to providing counseling services, Badenhausen spends time running the department, networking with other departments and seeing that the WYFS outreach programs continue to grow with the community. The department works with multiple groups, including the Board of Health, faith communities and the food pantry.

That growth in Westborough, Badenhausen noted, has led to higher demands on his office. While the department helps a lot of children, as the name suggests, they provide services to Westborough residents of all ages who might not be able to receive counseling if the department wasn't around. Badenhausen said that not only does his office receive referrals from the school system, but they also receive referrals from the police department and other local organizations.

Over the years, Badenhausen has seen dramatic changes in the issues that his patients face. He said that in the beginning he often saw children who were uncooperative -- they didn't do their homework or they refused to clean their rooms.

"Now kids come in and its eating disorders, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety or trauma," said Badenhausen. "The intensity of the need is more now than it was when I was first here."

Like others in the field, Badenhausen knows that while a simple solution to these problems does not exist, the current pace of life can often be a circumstance.

"I think that life is more stressful now," said Badenhausen.

He noted that people face more pressure than they have in the past. Not only is technology and social media becoming more pervasive, but so too are financial obligations within a household.

"There is so much more crowding for our attention," he said.

While Badenhausen will be moving out of state with his wife to be closer to family, he said that he expects the department to continue to grow in importance. One of the keys, he said, is that work continue to be done with the department's connections within the community and outreach.

"I think that that part of the job and the role that the department can play will get bigger," he said.