Family Survivor Network

www.fsnwork.org

Mission

To support mental, emotional, and physical health for surviving individuals, families, victims, and communities impacted by violence (e.g., murder, homicide, etc.) in Baltimore. We provide trauma-informed approaches, care, and responses to the communities and residents we serve through therapeutic alternative healing, clinical and nonclinical counseling, peer support groups, and community-centered services, events, and activities.

Purpose

Our purpose at Family Survivor Network (FSN) is to walk this grief journey with the family. To be a guide in their years of navigating the pain and the meaning of ultimate loss in their own life. It is for FSN to be a place where they feel safe in their feelings, to help them with coping skills, and to rebuild their faith as they reshape their new life; that is what is required for each person to rebuild new meaning in their life, for them to recreate how they see the world, and find their new purpose. Every homicide survivor says they are a different person than who they were before the murder. We are there with them to help cope and live with this loss.

How FSN Helps - In Their Own Words

Support groups: Much of the strength of our community comes from our network of peer survivors. Our Laurens Street Family House hosts monthly enrichment sessions, both open and closed, for survivors to come together as a group to share experiences and support one another. Though no single loss can truly compare to another, our network of survivors offers a community of compassion and understanding.

Clinical counseling: While losing a loved one is always hard, survivors of homicide experience uniquely complicated emotions and challenges. Our clinically trained grief specialists are available for individual counseling in-home, online, over the phone, or at our Laurens Street Family House.

Therapeutic alternative healing: FSN offers a wide range of evidence-based, holistic practices. Our self-care programs and wellness retreats aid in healing the physical and emotional pain and stress that burdens survivors.

Art therapy: Art, dance, and music therapy play a powerful role in healing from trauma. As no two people grieve the same way, we want to offer you as many tools as we can to help you express and deal with your loss. FSN offers a variety of art, dance, and music therapy so that survivors can grieve and heal in whichever form their creativity speaks to them. Art-based therapies are available both on-site and remotely.

Case management: Our case managers help families access resources available through our community partners and through referrals. We work with a wide range of public and private agencies to help survivors navigate the sometimes-overwhelming processes and systems related to the loss of a loved one as well as to find any additional support they need.

Drop-in center: Our Laurens Street Family House serves as a sanctuary for survivors to visit, find fellowship, and access support. Our drop-in center provides food, clothing, basic needs, and internet access, all free of charge. Members and nonmembers alike are welcome to participate in activities, register for services, attend support groups, and talk with staff. Visitors can drop-in without any commitment, but we do find that members engage more actively.

Writing Yourself In: A six-week creative writing and journaling workshop where survivors author a passage of their story.

Voices: Survivors give in-person testimonials that chronicle their story of healing after losing a loved one to violence.

F3 – Faithful Freedom Fridays: Fun and fellowship, for free! Join us every 3rd Friday of the month at our Laurens Street Family House for love, light, leisure, and laughter.

Family Survivor Network also has a Tree of Life Memorial, located at Lorman and Mount streets in Sandtown, West Baltimore. 

How Family Survivor Network Will Use Their Champion in Life Grant

Family Survivor Network (FSN) plans to use the funds for both operational and personnel support, specifically to support the salary of their Youth Therapeutic Counseling Specialist and operating costs for needs that often arise when coordinating individual care. Currently, FSN’s Youth Therapeutic Counseling Specialist provides relentless and robust case management and support to all youth who have lost a loved one to violence. Funds provided by Building for God Community Foundation will fill a critical void primarily for grieving youth, particularly because services and programs for grieving and bereaved youth do not exist or are often for adults only.