Lifestyle News

    Assistance Center for Boston Marathon Bombing Victims to Open in August

    A group gathers around a memorial for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings on Boylston Street in Boston on April 21, 2013.

    Thanks to $1.9 million in federal grants, victims of the Boston Marathon bombings will have a resource for mental health, behavioral and psychological assistance that will be located within the Boston Medical Center. The Massachusetts Resiliency Center is scheduled to open in August, and will offer therapy, training, and other services to victims, their families, as well as first responders, and several other groups, according to The Associated Press.

    The idea for the center was devised by several of the victims who wanted to create a place where people could really heal, one of whom was Patrick Downes, a runner who lost part of his leg in the bombings.

    “It doesn’t have to be a formal therapeutic group setting,” Liam Lowney, executive director of the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance, told The Boston Globe. “Survivors like to be together and have shared experiences. That offers resilience to them.”

    The grant money came from the United States Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime, and the operations of the center will be done by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance. According to The Boston Globe, the Boston Medical Center is only a temporary home, and the center will be moved to a more permanent location later this hear. In addition, an advisory board will be created that will be comprised of victims, led by Downes.

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