Free Homicide Survivor Support - Biloxi, MS | GCCFN
The Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence (GCCFN) has served South Mississippi since 1977, and its Survivors of Homicide program provides trauma-informed support to individuals and families coping with the loss of a loved one to murder or manslaughter. Alongside individual and family counseling, GCCFN runs support groups where survivors connect and share with others who understand what this particular kind of loss does to a family.
What to Expect
The Survivors of Homicide program wraps support groups inside a broader set of services. Groups give survivors a place to sit with others carrying the same loss. Around them, GCCFN offers crisis response and emotional support in the immediate aftermath of a homicide, individual and family counseling for traumatic grief, court accompaniment and legal advocacy as families navigate the criminal justice system, assistance with Mississippi Crime Victims Compensation applications, help planning memorials or getting through anniversaries and significant dates, and long-term follow-up. Trained advocates attend court proceedings with families and explain what to expect. Staff are trauma-informed, and the program is explicit that it serves families whether the loss was recent or happened years ago.
Who This Group Is For
Family members and loved ones of homicide victims in South Mississippi. GCCFN serves Jackson, Harrison, Hancock, Pearl River, Stone, and George Counties. There is no time limit on eligibility — families years past the death are welcomed alongside those in the first weeks. The organization also serves survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking through separate programs.
Why Peer Support Works
Losing someone to homicide compounds grief with things most bereaved people never face: police investigations, media attention, court dates that reopen the wound on someone else’s schedule, and the particular rage that accompanies a death caused by another person. Ordinary grief support often cannot hold this, and well-meaning friends tend to fall silent fastest around violent death. A room of people who have been through the same process — the same investigations, the same courtrooms, the same anniversaries — removes the need to explain why this grief does not follow the usual shape. It also passes along hard-won practical knowledge about a legal system most families never expected to enter.
How to Join
Services are provided at no cost to survivors; GCCFN is a nonprofit supported by state and federal grants alongside private funding and United Way partners. Call the 24-hour crisis line at 800-800-1396 or email info@gccfn.org to ask about current support group times. The Porter Avenue Center is at 213 Porter Avenue, Biloxi, MS 39530 (228-207-6553). Additional offices include the Family Justice Center and Northcutt Legal Clinic at 47 Maples Drive, Gulfport, MS 39507 (228-864-7144), a Hancock County office (228-436-3809), and a Jackson County office in Pascagoula (228-436-3809). Advocates can also help with Mississippi Crime Victims Compensation paperwork.