Welcome to Life Matters

Katrina. September 11th. London. Madrid. In the world we live in, ordinary people are too often faced with extraordinary circumstances.

Terrorism, catastrophes of nature, violence and large-scale disasters impact us all — commuters, school children, business people, firefighters. Mass casualty incidents generate a great deal of media coverage but it is much more common for us to be affected by life's critical incidents in a far less public way: Job loss, retirement, economic pressures, legal battles, crime, death of a loved one, divorce or separation, domestic conflicts/violence, sexual tensions/abuse, serious illness, military deployment, accidents.... These are the stressors that drive us toward isolation, a condition that has been described as the "darkroom where we develop our negatives."

For once the dust settles, we are all challenged to stay strong and engage in the every day matters of life despite feelings of trauma, grief, shame, loss or anxiety.

Life Matters was created to help. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, our mission is to support people in developing psychological and community resources to regain their emotional well-being following a medical or psychological crisis.

Life Matters' educational programs help people understand what they're thinking and feeling in the aftermath of a crisis — and what to do about it. We offer educational awareness training to emergency responders and civilians to ensure that they are psychologically prepared for the emotional trauma they'll witness and experience in large-scale disasters and other challenges. We organize support groups to facilitate on-going self-help and eliminate isolation for those impacted by crisis. And finally, Life Matters offers an holistic, pro-active approach that serves to build a community of support. As part of this effort we collaborate with and make referrals to a variety of mental health, medical and social service resources.

Our programs uniquely teach resiliency, the ability to recover after a stressful encounter and to make quick adjustments through coping; and hardiness, the capacity to continuously rise to life challenges and turn stressful experiences into opportunities for personal growth.