Gryphon Place

Causes: Crime & Law, Dispute Resolution & Mediation, Hot Lines & Crisis Intervention, Mental Health, Suicide Prevention

Mission: Gryphon place helps people deal with conflict and crisis with help-line and information and referral services, dispute resolution and mediation, and suicide prevention education.

Programs: 2-1-1 information and referral service: provides quick and easy access to information about health and human services agencies in the kalamazoo and southwest michigan region. Community resource advisors work with callers to assess needs, determine options and provide appropriate programs/services, give support and advocate for the caller as needed. Calls are confidential and answered with respect, empathy and compassion. Gryphon place is a regional partner for michigan 2-1-1. Gryphon place also handles 2-1-1 calls for other michigan regions during off hours.

crisis services - help-line operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is available to residents of kalamazoo, allegan, van buren, berrien and cass counties. Calls are confidential and answered with respect, empathy and compassion. Anytime a person feels overwhelmed by life stressors, needs someone to listen to them, needs to sort through their thoughts, or needs help solving a problem, the help-line can be used. Gryphon place staff are expertly trained in suicide prevention and are fully certified by the american association of suicidology. Gryphon place is part of the national suicide prevention lifeline network and meets national standards for best practices for suicide prevention hot lines. Critical incident stress management (cism) teams are administered and coordinated by gryphon place using volunteers from the community. Teams quickly respond to groups that have been impacted by a traumatic event, helping them to process their reactions and educating them on stress symptoms. Cism teams help people after a traumatic event in all types of settings including schools, businesses, hospitals, neighborhoods, police and fire departments. They debrief community groups as well as first responders. Gryphon place also provides monthly support group meetings for survivors of suicide. These meetings are open to anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to suicide.

dispute resolution services - gryphon place's conflict services offer mediation to resolve conflict through the help of an impartial third person. The mediator assists those involved to discuss the problem in a safe and confidential setting, whether the conflicts are landlord/tenant disputes, family conflicts, school issues, special education disputes, small claims and general civil court cases, and elder conflicts. In addition the conflict services group offers restorative justice to facilitate opportunities for victims of crimes to meet with offenders to discuss what happened and the consequences. Workshops and training seminars on conflict resolution are offered to businesses, labor, government agencies and non-profits.

the gatekeeper program reaches out to middle school and high school students and teaches them suicide prevention skills and immediately connects at-risk youth to lifesaving services and professional help. The curriculum is presented annually to approximately 4,000 students in the 7th and 9th grades. The peer mediation and restorative justice program teaches and empowers elementary, middle and high school students to resolve conflicts with one another in an effective, safe, and respectful manner under the supervision of youth conflict resolution specialists. The program helps to reduce violence, truancy, detention/suspension/expulsion rates, and bullying.