 Healing Families & Communities After Tragedy
October 7, 2015
Dear 9/11 Families,
Help us help others.
In June 2015 VOICES launched a research study, "Investigating the Long-Term Impact of Bereavement Due to Terrorism: Factors That Contribute to Trauma, Grief, Growth and Resilience." The study is evaluating the immediate and ongoing needs of family members who lost loved ones on September 11th and in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. Our goal in conducting this study is to take your collective experiences to help victims' families after other tragedies. Not a week goes by without a tragic event occurring, most recently the shootings in Oregon. By participating in the study, you will help others by providing important insights into the supportive services needed for victims' families. In order to understand a variety of unique personal experiences, we would like as many members from each family to participate in the study. The study is an online, anonymous questionnaire that is accessible through VOICES website at www.voicesofsept11research.org and will take approximately 40-50 minutes to complete. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress is collecting the responses and analyzing the data. Participants must be related to a victim of one of these events, be 18 years or older, and understand English. Identifying information will not be collected. Thank you to those who have already participated in the study! If you have started but not yet completed the questionnaire, we encourage you to do so.
Please forward this information to your immediate and extended family members, as well as anyone else you know who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001 or on Air India Flight 182.
Warm regards,
 Mary Fetchet, LCSW
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About the Study
VOICES is honored to be working in collaboration with the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University on this important project, with Stephen J. Cozza, MD serving as the Principal Investigator.
Funded in part by Public Safety Canada's Kanishka Project Contribution Program, the research project involves family members of the 2,977 individuals lost at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA on September 11, 2001 as well as the family members of the 329 individuals lost in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 that crashed off the coast of Ireland, the majority of whom were Canadian. Both attacks remain the worst acts of terrorism in the history of their respective countries. The study will identify the long-term needs of individuals impacted by terrorism.
Understanding the long-term needs of victims' families is crucial to helping bereaved individuals heal. The research project is a unique opportunity for those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001 or in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 to provide important insight into factors that contribute to trauma, grief, personal growth and resilience. The knowledge gained from your responses will help expand the scientific advancement of research in the field, guide communities in providing services to victims' families, and help individuals heal after traumatic events.
The findings will be released in 2016. If you have questions about the study, please contact me directly at 203-966-3911, or via email at mafetchet@voicesofsept11.org.
Thank you in advance for your participation!
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