Crash Survivor Support Group -March 2026
We often hear that trauma is stored in the body. We’ll be listening to snippets from an interview with Dr. Van Der Kolk on On Being with mindfulness expert, Krista Tippit. Join us.
Ambassador Training - Part 1
Training is a cornerstone of our movement, enabling our community to align with Families for Safe Streets’ mission and goals, understand FSS strategy, practice skills, and build a strong and supportive network.
Led by FSS ED, Tom DeVito, this virtual training is held on two consecutive Sundays and includes campaign planning, media training/storytelling skills, outreach, and community building. The Ambassador training is designed to help FSS members who don’t yet have an FSS chapter to gain the tools and support needed to become a trained Families for Safe Streets advocate who can build change. We also welcome anyone who wants to brush up on FSS history, strategy, and advocacy skills.
Register to receive the Zoom link
Managing PTSD and Promoting Wellness
Our brains and bodies are capable of growth and transformation even after the most traumatic events. Join New York FSS member Debbie Kahn, mother of Seth Kahn, who was killed by a reckless driver in NYC for how she navigates grief. Debbie is a board-certified, licensed creative art therapist, shares a variety of ways you can exercise your brain to manage PTSD & stress.
FSS Stop Super Speeders Info Session
During the Stop Super Speeders informational session, we will provide an update on the campaign advocating for Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology for repeat and reckless speeders, outline current policy efforts across the country, and share ways families can engage. The session will also include time for questions and discussion. Join us to learn more.
Stop Super Speeders Testimony Training
If you have lost a loved one or been injured in a crash, your lived experience matters. Your story doesn’t have to be directly related to speeding. This is about putting a human face on the crisis and helping prevent other families from experiencing the heartache that FSS members live with every day. Join us.
Ambassador Training - Part 2
Training is a cornerstone of our movement, enabling our community to align with Families for Safe Streets’ mission and goals, understand FSS strategy, practice skills, and build a strong and supportive network.
Led by FSS ED, Tom DeVito, this virtual training is held on two consecutive Sundays and includes campaign planning, media training/storytelling skills, outreach, and community building. The Ambassador training is designed to help FSS members who don’t yet have an FSS chapter to gain the tools and support needed to become a trained Families for Safe Streets advocate who can build change. We also welcome anyone who wants to brush up on FSS history, strategy, and advocacy skills.
Register to receive the Zoom link
FSS Journaling Together Support Group - March 2026
Journaling can help us to process traumatic injury and loss by providing a safe space to express complex emotions, organize thoughts, and gain perspective. Join us.
Peer Mentor Training - March 2026
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members and those seriously injured, along with their caregivers, with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor. Join us.
Birthday & Anniversary Support Group: February & March 2026
Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join a community who understands.
Journaling Together
Journaling can help us to process traumatic injury and loss by providing a safe space to express complex emotions, organize thoughts, and gain perspective. Research has shown that journaling can improve physical and psychological health by calming the brain's fear center, reducing chronic stress, and enhancing coping skills. Regularly writing about crash-related loss and injury can provide a structured, routine way to navigate life-altering events.
Register to receive the Zoom link.
Honoring birthdays & Anniversaries
Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories and traditions, to comfort others, and receive comfort. This gathering will be facilitated by FSS support staff and open to anyone who has experienced a crash loss, or injury.
Register to receive the Zoom link
Managing PTSD and Anxiety Promoting Wellness
Our brains and bodies are capable of growth and transformation even after the most traumatic events. New York FSS member Debbie Kahn, a board-certified, licensed creative art therapist, shares a variety of ways you can exercise your brain to manage PTSD, panic attacks, grief, anxiety, and enhance gut health, sleep, and resilience. Debbie will share a variety of strategies in a two- part workshop, including guided imagery and Neurographica, a creative method that combines art and psychology to help individuals access their subconscious thoughts and emotions through drawing. Please bring:
• Several pieces of paper (copy paper is fine) or a blank journal
• A thin black marker, a Sharpie, and a few colored pencils
• A #2 regular pencil is fine
For drawing and journaling exercises.
We will divide this session into two sessions due to time management.
Register to receive the Zoom link
Survivor Support: Self-Compassion Letter Writing
Developing self-compassion is a scientifically validated method for enhancing overall emotional wellbeing, providing a way to acknowledge pain without being self-critical, and offering a pathway to a positive relationship with yourself and those around you. Self-compassion is associated with lower levels of anxiety, depression, and shame.
Together, we will write self-compassion letters, building awareness of how we talk to ourselves and others about such challenges as physical and psychological pain, frustration, and changes in routine.
Please note: this monthly event is limited to those who have survived a crash.
Register to receive the Zoom link.
Peer Mentor Training
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members or those seriously injured and their caregivers with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor. Our FSS mentors are all individuals who have been through similar experiences and are dedicated to helping others survive these life-altering tragedies. Join the training to learn more and become a mentor.
Register to receive the Zoom link.
Honoring Crash Anniversaries and Birthdays
Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories and traditions, to comfort others, and receive comfort. This gathering will be facilitated by FSS support staff and open to anyone who has experienced a crash loss, or injury.
FSS Journaling Together - January 2026
Journaling can help us to process traumatic injury and loss by providing a safe space to express complex emotions, organize thoughts, and gain perspective. Research has shown that journaling can improve physical and psychological health by calming the brain's fear center, reducing chronic stress, and enhancing coping skills. Regularly writing about crash-related loss and injury can provide a structured, routine way to navigate life-altering events.
Crash Survivor Support: Author talk with Survivor, Joanne Greene
A traumatic crash can upend our notion of control and test perseverance and resilience. Author and crash survivor Joanne Greene shares insights from the crash that caused this sudden turn in her life, and leads a conversation with fellow survivors. Joanne has been a recognized voice for decades on SF radio, and currently the cohost of the podcast All the F Words and the host of In This Story, a podcast featuring her flash nonfiction. By Accident is Joanne’s debut memoir. She lives in Marin County, CA.
Register for the event
Buy the book or audiobook
(if you can’t read all of the book or even some of it, please join us anyway!)
FSS Peer Mentor Training - January 2026
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members or those seriously injured and their caregivers with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor. Our FSS mentors are all individuals who have been through similar experiences and are dedicated to helping others survive these life-altering tragedies. Join the training to learn more and become a mentor.
Annual Sound Bath with Samer Ghadry
Soundbath practitioner Samer Ghadry is a musician and sound healing practitioner who has supported the FSS community for many years, bringing expertise, guidance, and compassion.
Crash Survivor Support: A Conversation with FSS Member Tina Ortiz
Crash Survivor Support Group: A conversation with FSS Member, Tina Ortiz
Milwaukee FSS member Tina Ortiz lost her leg in a crash. Tina shares the ways that she coped with the physical pain and emotional challenges of this sudden turn in her life. We will share questions, conversations, and group member perceptions of their own recoveries.
Please note: * This group is limited to crash survivors and/or their caregivers.
*We are meeting at 7:30 ET/4:30 PT, this month only!
📅 Dec. 17 | 7:30–8:30 pm ET | 4:30-5:30 pm PT RSVP HERE
Honoring Crash Anniversaries and Birthdays - December 2025
Birthday & Anniversary Support Group. Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories and traditions, to comfort others, and receive comfort. This gathering will be facilitated by FSS support staff and open to anyone who has experienced a crash loss, or injury.
📅 Dec. 11 | 7–8 pm ET | 4-5 pm PT RSVP HERE
Peer Mentor Training - December 2025
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members and those seriously injured, along with their caregivers, with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor. Our FSS mentors are all individuals who have been through similar experiences and are dedicated to helping others survive these life-altering tragedies. If you feel ready to mentor a peer or are just curious about this program, please join us. Mentoring is a foundational program in the work to support our community.
📅 Dec 10 | 7–8 pm ET | 4-5 pm PT RSVP HERE
Food and Memory - Grief Support
The foods that delight, comfort, and bring us together are powerfully linked to memory. Cooking a loved one’s favorite meal can help us remember them. Sharing that meal with family and friends can create a sense of community and literally set the table for storytelling and comforting each other. We will share loved ones’ favorite foods and the meals that have carried meaning for your families.
📅 Dec 9 | 7–8 pm ET | 4-5 pm PT RSVP HERE
Stop Super Speeders Campaign Kickoff
Join us for a Stop Super Speeders campaign launch meeting on Friday, 12/5 at 12pm ET/9am PT to get the latest updates on potential state bills and strategize with fellow advocates.
Stop Super Speeders promotes the use of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology to stop repeat and reckless drivers—“super speeders”—from exceeding safe speeds, including those who travel at extremely dangerous speeds.
Speeding killed nearly 12,000 people in 2023, and traditional penalties have failed to deter the small group of drivers responsible for a disproportionate share of deadly crashes. By supporting Stop Super Speeders state legislation, we aim to prevent dangerous speeding before it happens, reduce fatal crashes, and create safer streets for everyone.
Review the materials we have available to support you on our Stop Super Speeders webpage and members-only page.
📅 Friday, December 5, 2025 | 12:00–1:00 PM ET | 9:00 - 10:00 am PT RSVP HERE
Crash Survivor Support Group - November 2025
From physical pain to emotional trauma and lifestyle changes, the effects of crashes for survivors can be life-changing. Join peers for conversation and the support of those with shared experience. The economy, rhythm, and expressiveness of poetry can help us to tap into feelings about trauma, pain, and navigating the world after a crash injury. Join FSS member and writer, Michelle McLaren in a facilitated discussion. No poetry reading or writing experience required!
2025 Post-World Day of Remembrance Virtual Candle Light Vigil
Join Families for Safe Streets for our annual Post-WDOR Virtual Candlelight Vigil and slideshow. This event is open to all community members. We will share photos of loved ones lost to crashes and honor those injured. The gathering will include our memorial slideshow, readings, and a candle lighting ceremony.
Nov 18 | 7- 8 pm ET | 4-5 pm PT RSVP HERE
Crash Anniversaries & Birthdays
Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories, traditions, to comfort others, and receive comfort. This gathering will be facilitated by FSS support staff and open to anyone who has a crash.
What to Know Before and After Sharing Your Story in Public: Tools & Best Practices for Crash Victims
Join Families for Safe Streets to learn best practices to help diminish trauma, anxiety or overwhelm before/during/after story sharing for World Day of Remembrance. Sharing your story in front of others whom you don’t know can be very difficult, especially when those hearing your story include lawmakers, public officials, and others who have the power to enact the change you seek. Together, we will practice skills to help prepare you for story sharing, create focus and calm during storytelling, and recover afterwards.
Peer Mentor Training - oCTOBER 2025
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members or those seriously injured and their caregivers with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor. Our FSS mentors are all individuals who have been through similar experiences and are dedicated to helping others survive these life-altering tragedies. Join the training to learn more and become a mentor.
Book Club
Join us to read and reflect on Improvement, by Joan Silber, winner of the National Book Critics Circle and PEN/Faulkner Awards. Told through the characters' interconnected stories, the novel centers on a tragic car crash and the far-reaching effects it has on those directly and more subtly changed by this event. The book delves into the consequences of choices, the search for meaning, and the possibility of growth and change.
We will meet just once, for 90 minutes. We encourage reading the entire book, but please join the discussion even if you are not able to complete it.
FSS Book Club is facilitated by FSS member, author, and writing instructor, Rebecca Sonkin.
Improvement can be purchased through Amazon or at Bookshop.org.
📅 Oct 23 | 🕖 7–8:30 pm ET (4 -5:30 pm PT) | RSVP HERE
Crash Anniversary & Birthday Support Group
Birthday & Anniversary Support Group. Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories, traditions, to comfort others and receive comfort.
Monthly Journaling Together Support Group
Research has shown journaling to help improve physical and psychological health by calming the brain's fear center, reducing chronic stress, and enhancing coping skills. Regularly writing about crash-related loss and injury can provide a structured, routine way to navigate life-altering events.
Crash Survivor Support Group
Crash survivors offer a powerful and unique perspective that can fuel advocacy and bring profound change.. Join FSS crash survivor and community leader Kate Brockwehl for a facilitated discussion.
Journaling Together Support Group
Journaling can help us to process traumatic injury and loss by providing a safe space to express complex emotions, organize thoughts, and gain perspective. Research has shown journaling to help improve physical and psychological health by calming the brain's fear center, reducing chronic stress, and enhancing coping skills. Regularly writing about crash-related loss and injury can provide a structured, routine way to navigate life-altering events.
We will write silently but together for most of the session, and will offer prompts for those who want them. We will leave time to say hello to each other and share insights.
📅 Sept 25 | 🕖 7:30-8:30 pm ET (4-5 pm PT) | RSVP HERE
Birthdays & Anniversary Support Group
Anniversaries and birthdays can be very challenging. These are times to be comforted by peers who have been through similar loss and heartbreak. Join this ongoing gathering in the month of your or your loved one’s anniversary and/or birthday to share stories, traditions, to comfort others and receive comfort.
Crash Survivor Support Group
Somatic therapist Elizabeth DeLaBarre guides crash survivors through a practice called Holistic Biomechanics - using sensory awareness to center the nervous system and promote the body's ability to balance itself.
Holistic biomechanics can address many of the psychological and physical effects of crash-related injuries, from anxiety and depression, to chronic pain.
NOTE: Elizabeth DeLaBarre, a crash survivor herself, has practiced Somatic Therapy and now focuses on Holistic Biomechanics, which has helped her to address her own extensive pain.
Peer Mentor Training
FSS Peer Mentoring provides bereaved family members or those seriously injured and their caregivers with a connection to a volunteer peer support mentor.