Long after a crash, Survivors still feel the Impact.

MADD Victim Services provides assistance with the Medical, Emotional and Legal Struggles that follows a Drunk Driving Crash.

How MADD can help: 

   MADD Victim Services offers emotional support, information, and referrals to victims/survivors of impaired driving crashes.  Services are free of charge and rendered by trained Victim Advocates.  Many MADD Victim Advocates have experienced the tragedy of impaired driving crashes in their own lives.

   Every state guarantees the right to present a written or oral statement in court addressing the impact of crime on those most affected.  MADD Victim Advocates can help you write and submit your victim impact statement to the court.

   Many victims/survivors experience financial hardships after an impaired driving crash.  MADD Victim Advocates can refer you to community resources such as Crime Victim Compensation.

   In addition to possible local, state, and federal financial aid resources, MADD Victim Advocates can refer you to agencies that provide professional counseling, legal representation, and other essential services.

   Many state and local MADD Offices offer victim/survivor support groups where you can meet with others and share similar experiences.

   MADD Victim Services Provides a wide selection of free literature, available in both English and Spanish.

Aftermath Of A Crash:  Coping Tips.

Know that your grief is unique.  Victims/survivors of impaired driving crashes suffer many losses as a a result of their crash.  Reactions to these losses, such as sadness, anger, and guilt, are collectively referred to as grief.  Grief is not an event but a process of experiencing the physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual effects of a death or other loss.  Grief reactions are common to most people although each person grieves in their own way and in their own time.

Develop a support system.  Following an impaired driving crash, some victims/survivors go through a period of time when they are not ready to feel better.  Others are eager to feel better and work to find ways to do it.  Whether you are ready to feel better or not, you might want to look so others who have survived the ordeal and have managed to regain strength and find happiness again.

Take care of your physical health.  During the first six months to a year after a fatal crash, people are vulnerable to physical illness.  Physical complaints, aches and illness are all common in people who are grieving.  This is the body's reaction to trauma.  Maintain regular contact with your physician for a year or two after the crash to be sure that you do not acquire a stress-related physical condition.

Search for an understanding of the crash.  The world is forever changed when someone experiences a trauma.  Safety, security, predictability, and sense of control are all distorted.  In order to regain a more accurate perspective of the world around you, you can work toward an understanding of the crash.  Asking specific questions about the crash and obtaining a copy of the crash report are ways to begin.

Learning to manage grief requires that you recognize, acknowledge, and accept all that is involved in the journey.  Many people describe the grief process as a roller coaster ride with ups and downs along the way.  However painful and difficult, grieving is necessary to heal and to find new meaning in life.

Crime Victim Compensation:

Crime Victim Compensation is a financial assistance program that can help eligible crime victims with certain expenses related to the crime.  Every state in the country offers crime victim compensation benefits.

Although eligibility requirements vary slightly from state to state, victims/survivors are generally required to report the crime promptly to law enforcement (usually within 72 hours of the incident), cooperate with the investigation and prosecution of the crime, be innocent of any criminal behavior leading to the victim/survivor's death or injury, and file timely application in the state where the crime occurred.

Applications can be obtained from state crime victim compensation programs.  Most programs now have web sites from which application forms can be downloaded.

Examples of those who may be eligible are:  victims who suffer bodily injury, death, or emotional harm; family members of victims; people who assume expenses related to the crime; and peace officers and firefighters who are injured or family of those killed during a crime.

Costs that may be compensated:

. Funeral expenses
. Medical, rehabilitation, and prescription expenses
. Lost wages and travel costs incurred during the justice process and for seeking medical treatment related to the crime
. Counseling services for victims/survivors and family members
. Loss of earnings and support
. Child care and dependent care
. Crime scene cleanup 

The Crime Victim Compensation program is "the prayer of last resort."  Primary sources of payment may include health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, auto insurance or Workers' Compensation.

For more information and assistance with this process, please feel free to contact your local MADD office.

MADD New Mexico: Victoria Serna or Dolly Otero at 1-800-522-6233 (Toll Free) or (505)-255-2955

Support Group

This support group offers a safe place to share feelings, experiences, hopes, and to meet others who have suffered similar circumstances.  We do not know if you are scared, angry, shocked, depressed or confused; but we do know you are not alone.  There is never a fee for this support.

"They say time heals all wounds.We will be there in the meantime."

Support group meeting dates for 2009

October  21                November 11

Please join us a the MADD office located at 1100 4th st. NW, Albuquerque New Mexico 87108

For more information please contact Victoria Serna or Dolly Otero at 1-800-522-6233 (Toll Free) or (505)-255-2955