Norwich — Erin Haggan felt like she came home in the fall, when she was hired as coordinator of Norwich Youth and Family Services. But actually, she barely left the agency that guided her through a youth crisis, assisted with her college education and helped her along in her career in social work.

Haggan, 42, succeeded former coordinator and counselor Angelo Callis, who retired in October. Haggan said she “hit the ground running” with creative ideas to reach out to families and children as young as early elementary grades for programs that stretch beyond counseling troubled youths.

Haggan knows the value of such counseling. At age 16 and a student at Norwich Free Academy, Haggan lost her older sister, Michelle Barrow, 28, to suicide. Haggan was reeling. NFA connected her with Youth and Family Services counselor Kay Eyberse, who got the teenager through the tragedy.

Her experiences led Haggan to a career in social work. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Connecticut, her master’s degree in social work at Springfield College and did her internship back home at Teachers’ Memorial Middle School and Thomas W. Mahan Elementary School.

She started working at Norwich Youth and Family Services as a program coordinator two years ago, departed for eight months for a supervisor position with the state Department of Children and Families before applying for the Norwich agency coordinator position last summer. She said she missed the direct contact with youths but learned valuable skills at DCF.

“So, to now be the director of an agency that helped me in one of the most difficult times of my life is truly rewarding,” Haggan said Tuesday at her office in the Norwich Recreation Department building on Mohegan Road.

Norwich Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes praised Haggan for her many skills and enthusiasm to put them all together. “Thank God she came back to me!” Gomes said of Haggan’s return to the city agency Gomes heads.

Years before she worked at Norwich Youth and Family Services, Haggan volunteered with the agency’s Norwich Prevention Council, which focuses on risky behavior, including suicide. Haggan worked with her former mentor, Eyberse, and others to plan the first Suicide Prevention Walk eight years ago. About 30 people participated. Last year, more than 250 walked, Haggan said.

In addition to counseling and working with youths in a criminal justice diversionary program, Haggan has embraced the agency's family outreach, running free fun programs, such as Family Day, Summer Jam & Learn and programs with targeted audiences.

She and her grant-funded staff — Tiana Powell, coordinator of the Partnership for Success grant, Christine Goracy, youth and family and Juvenile Review Board case worker, and Rayallen Bergman, coordinator of the Drug Free Communities grant — are working with public and private community groups to assist youths and families. “It’s a team effort,” Haggan said.

The lineup of health and wellness programs and clubs to help youths develop anger management, empathy and self-esteem is growing by the day. Workshops for parents include Parent Academies on Tuesdays at Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Magnet Middle School or Thursdays at Kelly STEAM Magnet Middle School. Free child care and dinner are provided.

“We’ll do anything to reach families,” Haggan said. “We’ll feed you, provide child care, pick you up if we have to. Once any parents or youths participate in our workshops, they keep coming back.”

She plans to livestream workshops for those who can’t attend in person.

There’s Critter Club, which brings in different animals each week to “promote healing, improve empathy, hopefulness and peer relations,” the flyer states. The Girls Circle uses writing, arts and crafts and activities to help young girls focus on body image, self-esteem, relaxation and future goals. Calm Down Crew is an anger management group for elementary school students to understand how to express their feelings of anger in a positive way.

And Inner Awesomeness will teach yoga and mindfulness techniques to second- and third-graders in an after-school program. “Participants will improve their emotion regulation skills and self-esteem through mindfulness techniques, yoga and creative expression,” the flyer said. Parents will be encouraged to participate and seniors from the Sheltering Arms housing facility will be invited “to form intergenerational connections.”

Haggan said reaching younger students to teach coping and response skills should help them as they reach the more complicated middle school age. “If I had learned how to calm my mind in second grade, maybe middle school would have been a little easier,” she said.

Another innovative program proved to be an immediate success Thursday, with 65 people attending the first “A Taste of Diversity & De-Stress Fest” at the Rose City Senior Center. Seven ethnically diverse restaurants provided free dinner as families learned about services provided by 11 participating health and wellness agencies. An added attraction was a free drawing for a Nintendo 2DS system.

In April, Haggan was looking forward to the eighth annual Suicide Prevention Walk, but when she joined the Norwich School Readiness Council, she learned the group had planned its popular Touch-A-Truck for the same day. The two agencies quickly joined forces to combine the two events for a bigger turnout.

“Erin is smart, task-oriented, a person who accomplishes a lot in short periods of time,” Gomes said. "In the few months she has been back with us, she had developed systems and goals that will propel Norwich Youth and Family Services and the community forward. She is that unique person who can combine strategies that involve the mind, body and soul without making it seem too ethereal.”

c.bessette@theday.com