SAFE is hard at work preparing our 2024 spring gala event, to be held at Lakeview Pavilion in Foxboro on May 1. The event will bring together community members interested in celebrating our growth and impact over the last year and joining its mission in the year ahead.     Former Patriots outside linebacker and local resident Rob Ninkovich will be this year’s honored speaker. Ninkovich consistently uses his public platform to emphasize the importance of mental health and youth wellness, including speaking events, podcast appearances, and a video series on mental health awareness for Optum Health.     “Rob is an active, engaged member of our community,” says SAFE board member Lindsay Semas. “Whenever a community member, especially one with an amplified voice, invests in causes aligned to SAFE’s mission, it is a win.”     The gala will include messages from SAFE’s co-founders and board members. It will also host live and silent auctions with all proceeds from the event going to SAFE’s nonprofit work. SAFE has seen a sharp increase in engagement over the last year, with call volume quadrupling from 2022 to 2023. Levine credits a rising awareness of SAFE’s work in the community along with the rising prevalence of key issues. "We know that the need for mental health and substance use resources–especially for teens and families–are at an all-time high,” Levine says. “We are so thankful that our community trusts us at SAFE to walk with them through this chapter of their lives.”    With SAFE’s scale growing, this year’s gala is a celebration of advancement and impact. “The scale of this gala is five times larger than last year’s,” says Semas. “It's a testament to the journey of our organization. Ongoing investment by community members and businesses is what is needed to keep support in place. It’s a joint investment and growth equation."

March welcomes the arrival of SAFE’s new meeting space and home to many of our Family Recovery Center gatherings. But how much do you know about SAFE’s Family Recovery Center? The concept of a family recovery center began in 2019 and doors opened in January 2023. Since that time, FRC programs have supported over 1,000 attendees. The FRC is founded on the principle that substance use disorder (SUD) is a family illness, and families need their own recovery separate and distinct from the loved one who is battling SUD. Jim Derick, co-founder of SAFE and Director of the FRC, saw a need for allaying the isolating effects of mental illness and SUD on everyone involved. “As a dad with a son that had suffered from SUD for years, I was keenly aware of the anxiety, stress and impact of this illness on the family,” Derick says. “Many families initially feel they are at fault for their loved one’s illness. At the FRC they find that this is not the case and importantly that they are not alone.” Recognizing that the process of recovery for any family is different for everyone, FRC provides more than a dozen pathways to access support and wellness. In addition to our support groups, families can access compassionate and judgment-free quiet space, social activities, self-care training, and health and wellness training. The FRC’s offerings are designed as a supplemental resource to traditional clinical care, which SAFE CEO Jen Levine says makes them first in class in the region. “Peer work is just as important as clinical work,” says Levine. “It’s what makes our support a unique, whole-person, whole-family style of care.” The FRC's support groups rely on trained volunteer peer leaders with shared lived experience of the topic. Families Anonymous, The Ripple Effect (an adult sibling support circle), Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, Artists’ etc. and Peer Support all honor the crucial role that shared experience can play in witnessing and holding space for a person’s grief, emotional processing, and ongoing support. Derick says by treating the individual as just one part of an entire system in need of healing, spaces like FRC offer critical paths toward recovery. “We know that SUD is a family illness, “ says Derick. “Without treatment, the impact on the family and its individual members can be devastating. Statistics show that the individual with SUD has a greater chance of maintaining their recovery when the family of origin is pursuing its own recovery.” Most recently, the SAFE Cafe was launched offering additional opportunities for support and connection. Every Friday 8:30-noon, SAFE Cafe is open for coffee and conversation. And the Cafe After Dark series offers open mic performance art and safe and sober space for everyone in the community to enjoy. Cafe After Dark runs May 11th, August 3rd and October 5th.  With offerings every week, SAFE is making a measurable impact in the mental wellness of our community. As one member of Families Anonymous said, “This support group has changed my life.” Explaining how they learned how to set boundaries and seek guidance, they said the group helped them heal. “I learned that my loved one needs to have their own experience and that I am there to love [them],” they said. For more on the Family Recovery Center and a full list of SAFE’s support services, visit our Support Groups page  and Community Events Calendar . With questions or more information, email info@safecoalitionma.org .

SAFE Coalition’s ongoing school partnership program is helping hundreds of local teens better understand their decisions related to substance use.  An alternative to traditional school suspension policies, Up in Smoke’s diversion-based program invites students for three full-day, in-person, small group classes. With trained staff who meet in-person with five students at a time, making Up in Smoke the only program of its kind in the region. Founded in 2022, the program has logged over seven hundred hours helping more than 130 teens seek a recovery plan for the use of nicotine, marijuana and other controlled substances. Emma Kelley, SAFE’s Director of Wellness, says emphasis on connection rather than suspension is the program’s key to success. “Instead of taking away their community, we offer them a chance to create a community with other students and explore their coping mechanisms,” she says. Up in Smoke builds on the highly regarded Stanford curriculum to help students discover freedom and self-respect through daily habits. According to Kelley, coursework is designed in a way that “gives students a chance to think critically about the reasons behind why they are using substances, and to build tools they can use to cope with difficult situations in their life.”  Participants in the program report that the course provides greater perspective and a sense of camaraderie. "I felt very safe here,” says one program graduate, “I never feel comfortable sharing anything with my parents or therapists but I really felt comfortable here." “Up in Smoke” arrives at a critical moment in Massachusetts, where  legislation passed in 2022  calls on public schools to use alternatives to suspension that “re-engage the student in the learning process.” Jen Knight-Levine, CEO and founder of SAFE, values Up in Smoke’s alignment with the requirements of Law C.71. “We are thrilled that The Mass Department of Secondary and Elementary Ed values the practices of restorative justice, social-emotional wellness, and mediation as we at SAFE do,” she says. “These requirements enhance every child’s ability to learn decision-making and buffer the impact suspensions can have on a child’s success.” While other programs encourage behavioral change through online coursework, Up in Smoke values true growth and self reflection through a highly interactive face-to-face approach.  Any student may be referred to the “Up in Smoke” program. To refer a student for an upcoming session, visit our  info page . School administration interested in bringing Up In Smoke to your school for the 2024-25 school year can  learn more here  or email  info@safecoalitionma.org .