Announcing the Scardale Community Support Council

A new community resource has been formed to help in times of crisis. The group was established as a result of the open community meetings that were held last fall by Scarsdale and Edgemont Family Counseling to facilitate discussion, support and the exchange of information about the spate of suicides that touched Scarsdale at the time. The newly founded group called the Scarsdale Community Support Council includes representatives from the clergy, police, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service, Scarsdale schools (mental health professionals, the administration, and the PTA), the Village Trustees, the senior community, the Scarsdale Forum and other civic organizations.

In times of need, the Scarsdale Community Support Council will serve to coordinate the community’s diverse resources in an efficient and comprehensive manner. They believe that by working together they can reach the greatest number of community members to provide social and emotional support in the event of a crisis.

According to Linda Hillman Chayes, who is the chair of the Council, “The Council began meeting last June with the goal of providing a forum through which our various organizations can connect, sharing information and lessons learned, discussing how emerging needs can be identified, and formulating options for coordinated crisis response.”

“The mission of the Scarsdale Community Support Council is to establish a network of diverse community service providers who are able to act as an integrated whole to provide comprehensive, efficient crisis intervention, promoting the social and emotional well-being of our community.”

By fostering connections between community resources, the Council seeks to strengthen those resources and develop a collective capacity that serves our community well in good times and bad.