Baystate Family Advocacy Center Receives $100,000 Grief Reach Grant

SPRINGFIELD — The New York Life Foundation will present a $100,000 check today to the Baystate Family Advocacy Center in support of its new children’s Suicide Bereavement Program (SBP). The program will specifically support children and adolescents in need of mental-health support after losing a loved one to suicide.

The New York Life Foundation created the Grief Reach program to help providers overcome barriers to bringing grief-support services to youth not served by existing bereavement programs. More than 200 Grief Reach grants totaling more than $7.7 million have been awarded since the program’s inception in 2011. The New York Life Foundation has been one of the leading funders of the childhood-bereavement field, investing nearly $40 million to date in support of grieving children and their families.

The Suicide Bereavement Program will serve children and adolescents in need of mental-health support after losing a loved one to suicide. Survivors are often isolated and struggling with the stigma of a death due to suicide. Their feelings are ever-changing and include grief, trauma, pain, and unanswered questions. Isolation leads to feeling alone and believing that nobody understands.

All of this highlights the need and importance of the Family Advocacy Center’s Suicide Prevention Program, which will offer services to survivors at various stages in their grieving process — services tailored to meet survivors’ needs whether in the immediate aftermath or years later, and providing stabilization and coping skills.