Every year, hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines die in service to our country. While some of them will make the ultimate sacrifice on the field of battle, others will lose their lives while living a unique life as a service member. These men and women will leave behind their beloved family and friends.
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
TAPS is there to provide comfort, support and care to these military survivors.
Bonnie Carroll founded TAPS in 1994 in the wake of a military tragedy. Bonnie became a surviving wife when she lost her best friend and husband, Brigadier General Tom Carroll, who died in an Army National Guard aircraft crash in Alaska in November 1992. Out of this tragedy, Bonnie found strength through the peer support she received from the families who lost loved ones in the same tragic event.
TAPS is a national non-profit organization serving families, friends and military service members who have been affected by a death in the armed services. They offer peer support, crisis response and intervention, grief care and counseling resources, casework assistance, long-term survivor wellness, and community and military outreach.
Programs
Personal Assistance
If you would like to talk with someone on the survivor care team who can let you know about services and programs you might find helpful, or just need someone to talk to, please call at any time at 800.959.TAPS (8277). The resource and information helpline is always available.
Peer Mentors
A TAPS peer mentor is a caring individual who is also a survivor and who is further along the journey. A source of companionship, understanding, and hope. A person who has experienced a similar loss and has been trained in how to companion someone else who is grieving. A one-on-one connection that can be in-person, over the phone, email - whatever is most comfortable for you.
Peer mentors are survivors who volunteer their time to reach out and support others. They are not mental health professionals and have no formal clinical training. Your TAPS peer mentor shares an experience of loss and will devote their time, attention, and their heart to you - survivor to survivor. They will walk beside you for as long as you need.
For more information call 800.959.TAPS (8277) at any time or visit the TAPS peer mentor website.
Local Support Groups
TAPS can provide you with a directory of bereavement and trauma resources and support groups in your local area. See their website for more information.
Connect Online
Grief can often leave us feeling isolated and we long to find others who can listen without judgment, offer support and provide the simple gesture of their presence. We warmly invite you to join with fellow survivors that make up the special TAPS family. See their website for more information.
More Assistance
TAPS offers many more assistance programs, see their website for details.
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