Bonnie Buchele, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, President
Harold Bernard, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, President-Elect

The horrific events of September 11th affected a great many people, both direct victims of the attacks and the many who are struggling with the fallout from these cataclysmic attacks. The losses are many: families have been destroyed; friends and colleagues by the thousands have been lost; and the sense of safety that most Americans felt has been shattered. The latter is the case throughout the country, not just in New York City and Washington, DC. As group psychotherapists, we subscribe to the notion that the group setting is a particularly effective one for meeting the needs of a great many of those who have suffered and continue to suffer. Many of AGPA's members are already making contributions to the healing of the nation, while others are looking for a venue in which they, too, can contribute.

We are pleased to report that AGPA has secured a grant that will provide a venue that will allow many of our members to contribute to the nation's healing. We have been honored with a $2 million grant from the New York Times Company Foundation's 9/11 Neediest Cases Fund. The purpose of the grant is to provide expert group interventions for people who might be deterred from seeking help because of financial considerations, ignorance of the potential benefits of group participation, or fear of stigma. This grant provides AGPA with the means to help many people get the help they need in the face of all these obstacles. 

AGPA has set up a Disaster Outreach Task Force to establish and carry out a comprehensive program to achieve a variety of goals. We have established a three-tiered approach:

• Tier One involves organizing a wide range of groups for direct victims of what occurred on September 11th: building survivors; witnesses of the horrors of that day; employees of particularly decimated businesses and organizations; surviving spouses and other loved ones; surviving firefighters, police and rescue workers; and others. The primary focus in the first year of the project is to establish 300 groups: 270 in New York and its surrounding areas, and 30 in the Washington, D.C. area. 
• Tier Two will involve actively reaching out to businesses and other institutions in which people were impacted, including businesses with offices in one of the Twin Towers, the New York City Police and Fire Departments, the Pentagon, rescue worker organizations, schools and religious institutions. Again, the list is inexhaustible.
• Tier Three will involve working to identify and assist those who may suffer longer-term effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as opposed to the Acute Stress Disorder so many have experienced in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

We anticipate that this will be at least a three-year project, and that the subsequent two years will involve some activity in other parts of the country. As the grantee of the New York Times' 9/11 Neediest Cases Fund, we must insure that services are provided to those who would have a difficult time securing them otherwise. In the process of pursuing this multi-pronged program, we will be reaching out to establish partnerships with other groups: hospitals, schools, and other associations. For example, we are currently forging a collaborative relationship with a trauma training program organized by a consortium of four major medical centers in New York City.

As always, our greatest partnership will be with you, the AGPA members, as we ask your assistance in carrying out this project, which is obviously enormous in scope and no less enormous in importance. We need to hear from those in the tri-state area around New York City, and in the greater Washington, DC, area who either currently are running groups dealing with September 11th issues (and might like them considered to be a part of this project) or who would be interested in establishing such groups. Also, if you have contacts in communities or organizations that you believe would be valuable partners in this endeavor, please share this information with us. AGPA has hired a new Public Affairs Director, Diane Feirman, CAE, whom many of you know from her previous employment at AGPA. You can contact directly at 212-477-2677, toll-free at 877-668-AGPA (2472), or dfeirman@agpa.org for more information. 

We wish to thank the members of the Disaster Outreach Task Force, who are working hard to insure this program's success. A special thanks goes to Randy Lehrer, MSW, CGP, a member of AGPA from New York City for putting us in touch with The New York Times Company Foundation and for all her hard work on the Task Force once the grant was obtained, and to our CEO Marsha Block, CAE, whose tireless efforts have been crucial in getting the program off the ground so quickly. You will be hearing a lot more about this project as we proceed with its implementation.

This article was published in the February/March 2002 issue of The Group Circle.