GPS Community Programs

GPS for Crisis Response

For organizations on the front lines of crisis response, the need for emotional and psychological care is as urgent as addressing immediate safety and survival. After a natural disaster, personal tragedy, act of violence, or community-wide disruption, people carry invisible wounds—shock, grief, fear, and disconnection—that emergency aid alone cannot heal.

Community Support When It’s Needed Most

GPS for Crisis Response offers a trauma-informed, peer-facilitated model that complements your existing efforts by centering human connection. Groups provide survivors and community members with safe, structured spaces to process trauma, share experiences, and begin collective healing. These groups are not therapy, but they are deeply therapeutic—bringing dignity, validation, and resilience when people and communities are most vulnerable.

By partnering with GPS, your organization gains an adaptable, evidence-based resource that can be rapidly deployed in the wake of a crisis. GPS helps turn isolation into connection, despair into hope, and chaos into the beginnings of stability.

How GPS for Crisis Response Helps

In the wake of a crisis, healing starts with connection. GPS groups give your organization a powerful tool to stabilize, support, and strengthen communities when they need it most.

Safe and Welcoming Spaces
Groups offer nonjudgmental environments where participants can express grief, fear, and uncertainty without stigma or pressure.
Connection Through Shared Experience
Survivors build strength together, finding belonging and solidarity with others who truly understand their pain.
Practical Tools for Recovery
Facilitators introduce evidence-based techniques for managing trauma, stress, and grief—helping participants regain emotional balance.
Support That Extends Beyond the Moment
Participants gain coping skills and emotional tools that support both immediate recovery and long-term resilience.
Adaptable Across Settings
GPS can be integrated into shelters, schools, workplaces, healthcare systems, or delivered virtually to meet diverse needs.
Community-Wide Healing
Groups foster not only individual recovery but also collective resilience, strengthening communities as they rebuild together.

In times of crisis, GPS offers more than support — it offers a lifeline.

Why Choose GPS for Crisis Response?

When crisis strikes, organizations need tools that are immediate, flexible, and effective. GPS for Crisis Response is designed to partner with you in creating compassionate, trauma-informed care when communities are most at risk.

Culturally Responsive by Design
Groups reflect the cultural values, languages, and identities of participants—ensuring relevance and trust across diverse populations.
Flexible for Any Setting
GPS is easily implemented in schools, community centers, workplaces, disaster sites, or virtual platforms—wherever people are gathering.
Trauma-Informed and Evidence-Based
Each group follows proven structures that promote safety, emotional regulation, and connection, adaptable to any type of crisis.
Facilitated by Trained Leaders
GPS combines professional expertise with lived experience, offering authentic leadership that fosters trust and empathy.
A Complement to Existing Services
GPS strengthens—not replaces—your organization’s current crisis response, filling the critical gap of emotional care.
Sustainable Impact and Capacity Building
By training facilitators within your organization, GPS builds long-term capacity to deliver peer support well beyond the immediate crisis.

Whether responding to natural disasters, sudden loss, or community violence, GPS for Crisis Response helps restore a sense of safety, connection, and hope — one group at a time.

“The GPS model helped our organization bring emotional support to people when they needed it most. It filled the gap between immediate aid and long-term recovery.”
“In the middle of chaos, GPS created calm. It gave us a safe space to share, to breathe, and to remember that we were not alone.”
“What I’ll carry with me from the group is knowing that even in tragedy, connection is possible. GPS helped me see that healing starts together.”
“In our GPS group, people came together with very different experiences of the crisis. What could have divided us instead became a source of strength — we listened, respected each other’s stories, and found common ground in our healing.”

GPS Crisis Response Support Groups

The GPS model can be successfully implemented in various settings to support recovery and resilience, including:

Traumatic Loss Survivors: Support for those coping with sudden or unexpected deaths.
Communities Impacted by Environmental Crises: Helping individuals and families recover from natural disasters like wildfires, floods, or hurricanes.
Gun Violence Survivors and Affected Communities: Providing spaces for healing and connection after acts of violence.
Workplace Teams Facing Collective Trauma: Supporting employees after workplace crises, such as accidents, layoffs, or violent incidents, to promote healing and rebuild morale.
Faith-Based Communities Navigating Tragedy: Providing congregations with spaces to process collective grief, such as the loss of a community leader or tragedies impacting their members.
Schools and Educational Communities: Helping students, educators, and families recover from crises, including school violence, suicides, or natural disasters affecting their environment.