Alexander Friedman, MPH is the founder of District & Clinical Family Services. His career has been devoted to family resilience as they take on big challenges, including complex medical diagnoses, interpersonal conflict, and grief. With a strong background in hospital-based developmental & behavioral pediatrics, Alex carries a deep understanding of how powerful systems influence the world around us. He has trained thousands of professionals, including those from medical, child welfare, law enforcement, and educational backgrounds, on how to balance humanity with the important nature of their work. Alex’s work has been published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, and Academic Pediatrics. At District, Alex brings this balanced mindset to all aspects of our work. Alex separately co-directs The National Center for Unexpected Infant & Child Death.

With more than 20 years of experience in autism, early intervention, developmental disabilities, family support, and healthcare advocacy, Elizabeth Ferriero is a dedicated leader and advocate committed to empowering individuals with autism and related disabilities and the families who support them.

For over 10 years, Liz has separately served as an autism resource specialist leader at a large teaching hospital, providing individualized support, resource navigation, advocacy, educational advocacy, and care coordination to children, adolescents, and their families. In doing so, Liz works collaboratively with patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, schools, state agencies, attorneys, behavioral health professionals, and community organizations to address complex needs and improve access to services and continuity of care.  A significant focus of Liz’s work has been helping families navigate the often-complex systems surrounding autism, including special education, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), insurance, Department of Developmental Services (DDS), Social Security, behavioral and therapeutic services, social, recreational, and adaptive programing and other community-based supports. Liz is particularly passionate about culturally responsive and family-centered care and has supported families from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Liz is a passionate educator and mentor. She has supervised students and interns, provided trainings to healthcare professionals and community partners, and presented at numerous regional and national conferences on autism, family empowerment, early intervention, and creating autism-friendly practices. Liz has received the McCahan Innovation and Research Award for Best Staff Abstract for work focused on preparing medical students to interact effectively with patients with autism and their caregivers.

Liz has also demonstrated a strong commitment to community engagement, parent leadership, and peer mentorship. Liz previously coordinated a parent leadership in autism cohort, a diverse, multilingual peer-support network designed to connect and empower parents of children on the autism spectrum. Liz has also supported teen mentorship programming, bringing together adolescents with and without autism as peer mentors and role models.

Earlier in Liz’s career, Liz served as an Autism Resource Specialist and Developmental Specialist within Boston Metro Early Intervention, where she supported children from birth to three and their families, provided developmental assessments and early intervention services, facilitated parent support groups, and helped families navigate the transition from early intervention into school-based services. Liz was also trained in autism screening and SCERTS-based approaches and. Liz has also held positions at The May Institute and Milestones School.

Liz has extensive experience working directly with children, teens and adolescents with autism and developmental disabilities and their families. Liz remains committed to providing excellence in advocacy, inclusion, family empowerment, and improving the experiences of individuals with autism and developmental disabilities across healthcare, education, and community settings.

For more than 20 years, Hillary Hollis has dedicated her career to helping individuals with autism and developmental disabilities and just as importantly, helping the families and professionals who support them navigate systems that can often feel overwhelming, fragmented, and difficult to access. Her experience spans specialized autism schools, in-home ABA services, world-renowned pediatric healthcare, state developmental disability services, and one of the region’s leading medical centers. This breadth of experience gives Hillary a rare, comprehensive perspective: she understands autism services not only from the family’s point of view, but also from the clinical, educational, behavioral, healthcare, government, and community perspectives.

Hillary began her career at the Groden Center, a specialized school for children with autism, where she worked as a Treatment Teacher and provided in-home ABA therapy. She went on to Boston Children’s Hospital, where she supported multiple neurology programs—including Autism Spectrum, Rett Syndrome, Bullying, and General Neurology—providing families with education, behavioral consultation, advocacy, and guidance around healthcare, education, and community resources. She worked directly with physicians and multidisciplinary teams, reviewed IEPs and evaluations, served as a liaison between medical and educational systems, and helped hundreds of families identify and pursue appropriate supports despite insurance limitations, school-system barriers, and limited community resources.

Through her work with the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, Hillary provided comprehensive case management to transition-aged youth and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities, coordinating state and federally funded services, developing individualized plans, supporting transitions from school to adulthood, managing self-directed funding, facilitating multidisciplinary meetings, and responding to complex needs and crises. She has collaborated with schools, physicians, clinicians, legal professionals, state agencies, and community organizations to create cohesive plans that support individuals throughout different stages of life while providing individuals with a meaningful and supported life.

Today, outside of District, Hillary serves in a leadership role at a hospital-based autism program , where she provides consultation, case management, resource development and navigation, advocacy, and systems guidance to individuals and families. She also works closely with established professionals across healthcare, community, and state systems including physicians, health care providers, community and state partners providing training and consultation related to autism services and the complex needs of the populations they serve.

Hillary brings something particularly valuable to families: the ability to see the whole picture. Rather than simply providing a list of resources, she helps families understand what services may be appropriate, how to access them, how different systems connect, and how to move forward when they encounter barriers. Her approach is individualized, practical, compassionate, and deeply informed by two decades of experience working within the very systems families are trying to navigate.

Whether a family is seeking guidance following a new diagnosis, struggling to access appropriate educational or behavioral services, navigating healthcare or insurance, preparing for a transition, or simply unsure of where to begin, Hillary provides knowledgeable, personalized guidance designed to turn an often confusing process into a clear and actionable path forward.

Hillary resides in a coastal town in Rhode Island with her husband and three children. She enjoys spending time with family and friends at the beach.

Amanda Echteler is a Massachusetts licensed (Visual Arts PreK-8) educator with over 15 years of experience supporting children and families of all abilities, including special needs and profound disability, in both public and private school settings. Amanda is trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach, an evidence-based method of reading instruction that supports students with language-based learning differences.

Her experience has provided her with a strong understanding of special education services, individualized learning, and the importance of collaboration between families and school staff.

As an educational advocate, Amanda partners with families to help them navigate the special education process, prepare for school meetings, review evaluations and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), and communicate effectively with educators. She is committed to ensuring families feel informed, supported, and confident as they make decisions about their child's education.

Amanda believes every child deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, and reach their full potential. Through compassionate guidance and knowledgeable support, she helps families access the resources, services, and educational opportunities their children need to succeed and thrive.

Shari Krauss, M.A., MPH is a coach for women navigating life's most profound transitions. For more than two decades, she has dedicated her career to supporting individuals and families through some of their most challenging moments—from helping parents process a child's life-changing diagnosis to walking alongside those grieving the sudden loss of a loved one.

Through this work, Shari has witnessed the remarkable resilience of the human spirit and developed a deep understanding of how people find their way through uncertainty, heartbreak, and change. Her own experience navigating divorce, rebuilding a life, and rediscovering herself further shaped her belief that even our most difficult seasons can become catalysts for growth and transformation.

Today, Shari coaches women who find themselves at a crossroads—whether facing loss, reinvention, relationship changes, career transitions, or simply a longing for something more. With compassion, wisdom, and decades of experience helping others through adversity, she creates a supportive space for women to reconnect with who they are at their core, uncover what truly lights them up, and step confidently into the next chapter of their lives.

Taneequa Fields, LICSW is a clinical social worker at an academic medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. Taneequa received her Masters in Social Work at the Boston University School of Social work and began her career in 2014 at a non-profit that assisted with quality assurance for youth in the care and custody of the Department of Youth Services. Taneequa later continued her focus on working with youth and families and began a career with the Department of Children and Families as an ongoing worker in a Boston area office. 

Taneequa enjoys the community connection between families and the neighborhoods they live, work, and receive care in. Taneequa's scope of practice focuses on the safety and well-being of children and adolescents within their family system while always considering the impact of social and economic injustice and the ever present need to provide care with human dignity and equality.