Bristol County Suicide Loss Survivor Continues Hosting Grief Support “Kitchen Table Conversation (KTC) Sessions.”

TAUNTON, MA, UNITED STATES, February 9, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Grief and loss do not just go away. It takes time. Equally important, it takes making connections with others who know exactly how you feel and are willing to share the journey. Steven Palm, Bristol County (MA) suicide education and prevention community advocate and activist continues his efforts to help others transition the “Creating Hope Through Action” theme into a tangible action. The Kacie Project, a Taunton MA based non-profit is hosting monthly Kitchen Table Grief Support sessions for suicide loss survivors with collaborative support from the Bristol County Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition director Annemarie Matulis and Lived Experience Advisor Tracey Pacheco Medeiros. The next in-person support session will be Sunday, February 11th, and continue the 2nd Sunday of each month. The time is 10 to 11am at the Trescott Gallery located at 8 Trescott St. in Taunton MA.

On his web page https://www.thekacieproject.org/ Steve notes, “My world was forever changed on July 17, 2014, when my precious daughter Kacie Elizabeth Palm died by suicide at the age of 14.
“Kacie was kind and considerate. She was generous. She was affectionate and greeted everyone with a hug. She loved to laugh and be goofy. She had a family that she loved and loved her. She had lots of friends. She is deeply missed.”

Palm continued, “The Kacie Project was born out of the Bristol County Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition. Early on in my loss I was able to utilize the grief support services that are offered by the coalition. It was at the Kitchen Table Conversation Grief Support for Suicide loss Survivors where I met many others that had lost a loved one to suicide. I found it very helpful to be able to talk with others that knew exactly what I was going through. It was through this continuing healing process that I started to volunteer my time to suicide prevention. I have learned that talking about suicide is a big part of prevention. Sharing the story of my family’s loss is something that I need to do.”

Palm added, “We need to add mental health to the large list of things that we talk to our children about. For the past several years, The Kacie Project has been raising funds to purchase and donate a series of children’s social emotional wellness books to schools, organizations, and individuals locally and nationally. Our hope is that these books make it easy to talk about emotions from the very beginning of a child’s life.”

Palm further noted, “For suicide loss survivors, grief can be all consuming and exhausting. We also want to be there for others touched by suicide. Peer to peer grief support was and is extremely important to me, as well as the peer-to-peer Re-Energize & Re-Connect wellness workshops for loss survivors, ideation, and attempt survivors and their impacted family & friends. Based on feedback, we will resume these workshops virtually and in-person in addition to new projects as we step into the new year.”

Steve can be reached via email: Kaciesdad@yahoo.com or cell phone (508) 813-2120. https://thekacieproject.org/

For more information on any of the peer-to-peer workshops, contact Annemarie Matulis at director@avoiceatthetable.org.
The Bristol County Regional Coalition https://www.facebook.com/SuicidePreventionBristolCounty is one of 10 regional suicide prevention coalitions that operate under the auspices of the MADPH Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention(MCSP). https://www.mcspnow.com/

Annemarie Matulis
Bristol County (MA) Suicide Prevention Coalition
+1 508-922-7278
matulisannie@msn.com
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