Samaritans opens new SafePlace support group in Worcester

A new, free of charge support group sponsored by Samaritans to be held at the Bridge on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month, will provide invaluable service specifically for those who have lost a loved one to suicide.

BOSTON, January 17, 2007. . .

Samaritans has expanded its services to suicide survivors – those who have lost a loved one to suicide – by opening a new SafePlace support group in Worcester beginning January 16, 2007. SafePlace is a free, ongoing, and confidential support group for people who have lost loved ones to suicide. Each Safe Place meeting is facilitated by trained volunteers who have also lost a loved one to suicide.

The meetings are sponsored by the Samaritans and provide an atmosphere of acceptance, space to share each person’s story at their own pace and support around coping with their loss. Samaritans currently offer SafePlace support groups in Framingham, Boston, Medford and Quincy and will be opening a new, fifth SafePlace location in Worcester on January 16, 2007. Meetings will be held on the first and third Tuesday of each month from 7 to 9 PM at the Bridge located at 4 Mann Street, Worcester, MA.

“The entire Samaritan community is thrilled with this service expansion,” said Roberta Hurtig, Executive Director of Samaritans. “We have been able to provide support to so many individuals and families through our SafePlace program, and yet I know there are many people who have found it difficult to travel to Boston, Quincy, Medford or Framingham and who have been requesting that we establish a support group for suicide survivors in the Worcester area.”

“The skills of our SafePlace facilitators are wonderful in creating an environment of support and healing,” said Kim Kates, Director of Survivor Services, “I look forward to reaching out to more people through establishing this new service location. We can’t thank The Bridge and its Executive Director, Barry Walsh and his wonderful staff enough for allowing us to use their conference room facilities for this ongoing support group.”

More than 400 people lose their lives each year in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to suicide, that is almost two and a half times the number lost to homicide. For each completed suicide, there are innumerable family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues left to grieve and struggle with their loss and the many unanswered questions that accompany these deaths.

Samaritans is the area’s only organization dedicated to suicide prevention services. In the over 30 years of service, more than 1.3 million phone calls have been answered on our telephone hotlines, over 4,000 volunteers trained, more than 100,000 individuals instructed through our community education and outreach programs and thousands of individuals and families helped through our survivor support groups.

For directions and more information about this support group, please call Kim Kates at 508-872-1780, **3228 or at 617-536-2460 **2237.

Contact Information

Kim Kates
Samaritans
508-872-1780 x3228 or 617-536-2460 x2237
kkates@samaritanshope.org

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