About Strategies for Youth
Lisa H. Thurau, Esq.
Dr. Jeff Q. Bostic
Richard Askew
Dr. Laura McNeal
 Lisa H. Thurau, Esq.
Lisa H. Thurau, Esq. is a graduate of Barnard College and holds a Masters degree in Anthropology from Columbia University. She graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in 1991. Before becoming an attorney, Lisa worked as a researcher and advocate for reform and improvement of the public education system in New York City. She worked as an Associate in the litigation department of Coudert Brothers, an international law firm on copyright and commercial litigation matters.
From 1999 to 2008, Lisa served as policy specialist and then as Managing Director of the Juvenile Justice Center of Suffolk Law School. There, Lisa focused on public policy advocacy on behalf of court-involved teens. She monitored juveniles' civil rights issues regarding police treatment, tracked trends in the Center's cases, monitored and challenges legislation affecting youth in the juvenile justice system.
In 2004, Lisa initiated a training initiative with 180 officers in the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Transit Police to improve police/youth interactions, to increase officers’ skills in working with youth, and to support officers’ development of innovative approaches to policing large groups of teens in public transit areas. She conducted a training over with 100 officers in Everett Police Department. Her assessment and training of 235 officers in Cambridge Police Department led to a reorganization of the way the Department provides services to youth.
In 2009, Lisa founded Strategies for Youth, Inc., a non profit advocacy and training organization dedicated to improving police/youth interactions. Working with Dr. Bostic, Director of School Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, Lisa built Strategies for Youth from the ground up without formal institutional or foundation support. In its first year, SFY has worked with police in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ohio, published over 10 articles on police/youth issues in national publications, and presented at over 5 national police and criminal justice forums. Lisa and SFY are now listed as technical advisors for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
 Dr. Jeff Q. Bostic
Dr. Jeff Q. Bostic holds a medical degree from Texas University School of Medicine, and performed his residency at the Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Bostic is the Director of the School Psychiatry Program for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Bostic also served as Medical Director of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project, in which psychiatrists were on call to assist pediatricians at the MGH site.
Dr. Bostic’s www.schoolpsychiatry.org website to advance service collaboration among clinicians, educators, and families for recognizing and working with children with behavioral and mental health issues in schools. To date, Dr. Bostic has served as a consulting psychiatrist to the Andover, Boston City-on-the-Hill Charter School, Lexington, Lowell, Silver Lake, Wellesley, Westwood, Winchester School District, Lowell School Districts.
Dr. Bostic has been a member of the Child Psychiatry Residency Training Committee for MGH and McLean Hospital since 1997. Dr. Bostic served as the training psychiatrist for the police training initiatives of Strategies for Youth with the MBTA Transit Police in Boston, the Cambridge Police Department, the Everett Police Department.
Richard Askew
Richard Askew has been a member of the Los Angeles Police Department since 2000. Formerly employed as a teacher for at risk youth, Richard currently works as a training officer for the LAPD, teaching and evaluating new officers on department policy, procedures, tactics, and techniques involving public contacts and administrative duties. During his 11 years at the LAPD, Richard has worked in a variety of specialized units that focus on youth. Richard has worked extensively with youth in juvenile narcotics and the mental health evaluation unit. These assignments required developing special policies and procedures for interacting with youth, use of de-escalation and crises intervention techniques for youth and adults with mental illnesses. Richard is also heavily involved with the community as a board member for the Los Angeles Community Advocating for Unity Social Justice and Action (LA CAUSA) a youth intervention program designed to provide job training, education and support services while promoting a greener Los Angeles. Richard graduated from Occidental College with a degree in Diplomacy in World Affairs and is completing his Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University. Richard uses his extensive training and facilitation experience to provide training and outreach services for SFY.
 Dr. Laura McNeal
Dr. Laura McNeal holds a Ph.D. in Education Administration and a Juris Doctorate from Washington University, St. Louis. She is currently a Faculty Fellow in the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School where she conducts empirical education law research. Prior to her fellowship Laura served as a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and Georgia State University where she taught education law, policy, and curriculum courses. Her research interests examine the intersection of law and policy and how it shapes and influences urban student achievement and effective school leadership. Dr. McNeal’s interests in urban youth and education policy requires an interdisciplinary approach that is refreshingly new, theoretically rich, and methodologically rigorous. She is a published author and has presented her research at several national conferences. In addition, she served as a Co-Editor for the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Review and served on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Council of Law in Higher Education Law Quarterly.
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