VOICES March Highlights

Dear Families and Friends,

In recognition of Women’s History Month we are proud to welcome three award-winning female authors whose work highlights self-discovery and empowerment.

We are delighted to welcome back Allison Gilbert whose recent novel, Listen World!, celebrates the inspiring life of columnist Elsie Robinson. Allison and I will be joined by award-winning writer Priscilla Gilman whose novel, The Critic’s Daughter, is a passionate account of “loss and grief – and a radiant testament of forgiveness and love.”

VOICES is also excited that Life Coach and best-selling author, Tracy Fox, will join us for an inspiring conversation about her book Happy Self: A Three-Step Strategy to Elevate Your Inner Game. Tracy will provide actionable strategies for achieving personal happiness.

A special note of interest to our golfing members – registration is now open for VOICES 9th Annual Golf Outing, which will be held on Monday, June 12 at the majestic Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York.

As always, we hope you will join us for some or all of our programs this month. Please contact us by email at support@voicescenter.org or call 203-966-3911 if we can be of assistance.

With warm regards,
Mary Fetchet & the VOICES Team

VOICES Meet the Author series presents "Grief and Memory," featuring two critically acclaimed female authors - Priscilla Gilman and Allison Gilbert. The authors will share lessons learned as it relates to death, loss, and grief, and highlight how to better understand our enduring and complicated relationships with loved ones. VOICES Founding Director Mary Fetchet will moderate the conversation and share her personal experience after losing her son, as well as observations of the long-term impact of grief on the 9/11 Community over the past 21 years.

Join VOICES for our Mindful Moment series, when together we will pause from the busy nature of our days to breathe, reconnect and begin again - feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Meg Rooney will facilitate this recurring event on the second Friday of each month. The theme for February is, "Opening Your Heart." Participation is free and registration is required. Learn more.

The death of a family member or friend by suicide is a devastating loss. Family members often ask themselves: why, what did we miss, and how do we put the pieces of our lives back together? For those in friendship or community circles, offering thoughts and prayers is not enough. There is the personal challenge of balancing one’s own sense of loss with questions of how to support others. Ms. Underwood and Ms. Rohda will share their decades of expertise on how to balance one’s own sense of loss with questions of how to support others.

Join VOICES for our Mindful Moment series, when together we will pause from the busy nature of our days to breathe, reconnect and begin again - feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Meg Rooney will facilitate this recurring event on the second Friday of each month. The theme for March is, "Lifting Ourselves and Others." Participation is free and registration is required.

Join us for another extraordinary golf experience at the world-class Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York. This year we are offering a hybrid format – a 1:00pm shotgun start or a limited number of assigned tee times from 7:00am through 8:30am.

Lunch will be served from 11:00am – 1:00pm. The tournament will be followed by a cocktail reception and an exquisite buffet beginning at 5:00pm. All proceeds support VOICES programs.

Voices Center for Resilience has been selected as a study partner in the upcoming World Trade Center Survivor Grief Study. Led by scientists from the Uniformed Services University Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS), the study will be conducted over 3 years and is funded through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant. VOICES offers a unique perspective as we assist with this groundbreaking research, due to our decades of experience in providing long-term support for 9/11 victims’ families, responders, and survivors.

VOICES joins Columbia University’s Center for Prolonged Grief, and the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry as subrecipients.

Read more about the study here.

Sunday, February 26 marked the 30th anniversary of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Tragically, six individuals and an unborn child lost their lives on that fateful day. On this milestone anniversary, VOICES remembers John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen A. Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child. We hold dear their families and friends.

Visit VOICES 9/11 Living Memorial to learn about the lives of the 1993 Bombing victims. You are also invited to provide additional photographs and personal reflections to their memorial site.

VOICES Peer Support Groups, led by VOICES clinical staff are held online. The groups provide a safe place to connect with one another, and acquire skills to build resilience. Participation is free and registration is required.

Family Members
March 6 and 20; April 3 and 17 - Register

Survivors
March 7 and 21; April 4 and 18 - Register

Responders
March 13; April 11 - Register

Bereavement Group for Those Who Have Lost a Loved One in the Past 3 Years
March 2, 16, and 30; April 13 and 27 - Register

Parents Helping Parents provides in-person peer support for those who have suffered the loss of a child.

The support groups are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the VOICES office located at: 80 Main Street, New Canaan, CT. If you are interested in attending click here to register or call VOICES Center at 203-966-3911.