Our Mission
Serving the needs of all Homicide Survivors in Northeast Florida with immediate and long-term support, grief recovery assistance, and life rebuilding skills founded on a unique peer support and counseling program.
VOICES OF HOPE You're Not Alone!
Compassionate Families, Inc. (CFI), is dedicated to serving the needs of homicide survivors, free of charge, regardless of race, religion, creed or financial standing.
Support and Assistance to the Family, Friends and Co-Workers of a murdered Loved one. If you or someone you know has been affected by the murder of a loved one, please contact us.  |
WHO WE ARE
Compassionate Families, Inc. is a Northeast Florida 501(c)3, Non-Profit Organization, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, comprised of homicide survivors, formed to serve and assist those within our community who have lost loved ones through a violent act.
We help bridge the gap between newly bereaved and others to ease their way.
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WAYS WE HELP
We are here to help ease your way
Guidance & Assistance
- We assist with Victim Compensation Applications and Claims.
- Composing and submitting Victim Impact statements to the courts.
- Providing crisis and long-term support, with information about grieving and the life re-constructing process.
- Provide community agency information, court escort and criminal justice advocacy.
- For surviving family, friends, co-workers and the community at large, we provide information on the grief process, as well as, emotional and psychological trauma, the process of family reconstruction and the Criminal Justice System as it pertains to homicides.
- Crisis and long-term peer grief support on a one-to-one basis helping survivors understand and meet the needs of family members, especially grieving children.
- Crisis management during all phases of the grief and healing process, criminal and legal proceedings, and life reconstruction.
- Group Support Meetings.
- Group Grief Therapy provided by professionals.
- Events to Honor and Remember Our Loved Ones.
FACTS OF GRIEF
Portrait by Eric Harms
- Family relationships are strained and broken due to the overwhelming nature of the event. Many people simply do not what to say for fear of saying the wrong thing, making survivors feel abandoned and angry.
- Family and friends what they and others could have done to prevent the murder, i.e., "IF ONLY..."
- Survivors often feel stigmatized because outsiders might find a reason to blame the victim, family or friends to ease the fear that this could happen to them and their families.
- The murderer(s) may not be identified or apprehended, causing the family further frustration, fear, and anger.
- Necessary contact with some investigators, prosecutors, social workers, defense attorneys, the defendant, and the media all intensify and prolong grief.
- Overwhelming grief can be devastating to every area of your life, spiritually, emotionally, physically and financially. Since everyone's grief is unique, each may feel a broad array of emotions at different and varying times. You may feel fearful, helpless and vulnerable.
PLEASE DO...
Allow them to...
- Allow survivors to talk about the crime, but do not focus the conversation on the investigation. Their recovery must not be based on what may of may not happen in the courts.
- Allow them to talk about the good and bad times or say nothing at all if they choose, without judgment.
- Allow them to cry freely as this is normal, healthy expression of grief and releases tensions. Allow them to take time out from pressures.
- Allow them to grieve in whatever manner and as long as they wish, provided they are not a physical threat to themselves or others.
- Allow them to change old traditions that may be too painful, as they are reconstructing a new life.
- Just let them know that you remain a caring friend by remembering and their loved one on holidays, their birthdays, and anniversaries.
We are dedicated to serving the needs of homicide survivors, free of charge, regardless off race, religion, creed or financial standing.
FOR OUR CHILDREN...
Click here to Visit Camp Maddie
Camp Maddie is part of a new youth program initiative of Compassionate Families. This three-day residential camp takes place at the YMCA's Camp Immokalee in Clay County Florida and serves Northeast Florida Child Survivors of Homicide (ages 7 to 17). Sessions are normally scheduled in mid May each year at Camp Immokalee, in concert with the First Coast YMCA. The primary goal of Camp Maddie is to provide the youngsters with coping skills to better understand and deal with their grief. The camp staff includes mental health professionals, experienced in dealing with children's grief, along with an array of trained volunteers. Please be sure to visit our Camp Maddie link at the top of this page...
"It is much easier to tell a person what to do with his problem than to stand with him in his pain."
David Augusburger
David Augusburger
