Families Hit by Violence Find Solace in Therapy

Nearly five years ago, as churchgoers left a Sunday mass in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Alice Mckay’s 21-year-old son Kameron was fatally shot in a parked car.

As the distress lingered for the 58-year-old mother, she turned to her community for help.

Mckay is among nearly 30 parents who are using anti-violence programs as a gateway to mental health care. Two programs, Not Another Child and The God Squad, have offered 100 families free peer-to-peer group therapy over the past seven years. The monthly sessions at Brightpoint Health in Crown Heights are led by mothers who have lost children through gun violence.

READ MORE