Crime Survivors
& Victims' Family
Recap

Crime Survivors' Unwanted Memories

Jim Smith is still haunted by memories of when he was beaten and robbed in his Orlando FL apartment. He moved out the next day. He has nightmares every night. He’s turned to crime survivor's counseling for the PTSD.

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An intruder broke into her Edmonton apartment, raped her and slashed her throat and severed two of her fingers before she managed to escape. Ever since, she’s suffered from extreme PTSD. She feels under constant threat with intense flashbacks and nightmares. She feels a psycho is always waiting to kill her.

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Tommie Nell Hannaford says an attempted carjacking in Jackson MS has changed her life forever. Recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can last a lifetime. The more a person ignores their feelings, the more chance it could lead to depression, heart disease, and drug abuse or alcoholism.

Rape survivors can find counseling at Rape-Escape-Options - Survivors. All crime survivors can find PTSD counseling, and murder victims' families and loved ones can find grief counseling at:

COUNSELING RESOURCES

And/or use a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search. Type in "victim services (and your town or county)" to find a grief counselor.

There are also countless support groups worldwide. The several listed below are located in the US, the UK, and Australia. Wherever you’re located, contact any or all of them. They’ll be happy to help survivors of crime or their loved ones from anywhere – and also refer you to a group near you for counseling. See:

• Victim Support at www.victimsupport.org.uk
• Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) at www.pomc.com.
• Witness Justice at www.witnessjustice.org
• Michigan Victim Alliance at www.mivictims.org.
• Compassionate Friends at compassionatefriends.org.
• Enough Is Enough at www.enoughisenough.org.au.

"Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul" by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (HCI Publishing) might help crime survivors.

What do you do when you run out of tears?

A psychology professor at Columbia University, Dr. George A. Bonanno, author of “The Other Side Of Sadness” (Basic Books), has studied hundreds of bereaved people for years and found that they’re far more resilient than we – and they – thought. Don’t worry, he says. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Even when the one you cannot live without is gone, you will almost certainly survive. Almost everyone does. Our survival instinct is inborn.

If the bereaved can shake off their depression occasionally, then people will be able to tolerate staying with them, and protect them from wallowing in an endless cycle of grief.

• Crime Survivors - Overview of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and grieving the loss of a loved one to crime.
• Parents of Murdered Children help parents who’ve lost a child to murder.
• Survivors of Homicide and Witness Justice help the loved ones of murder victims.
• Michigan Victim Alliance help murder victims' loved ones try to heal.
• Compassionate Friends help murder victim's loved ones help each other.
• Recap of this section (YOU’RE NOW ON THIS PAGE).
• Rape-Escape-Options - Survivors

Go to:
Crime Survivors - Overview
Crime-Safety-Security Home Page