“The traumas of the work are real and lasting -- Heroes deserve healing.”
Richard Winning
The Dream
When it started.
Started in 2023 with the singular goal of providing meaningful outpatient services to Police Officers, Fire Fighters and EMTs, Responder's Refuge seeks to provided services that help to keep the passion that led you to your chosen job alive across the professional spectrum -- from rookie to retiree.
Responder's Refuge is here to assist in processing the daily trauma and stressors that are both inherent and unavoidable parts of the work. We are committed to helping you develop the tools to process these experiences so they don't effect your outside of work life and help you avoid having them grow to something worse like PTSD.
The Refuge seeks to be just that -- a place to put down the burdens of the job and leave feeling ready to face another day.
Richard Winning-CEO/Lead Clinician
ABOUT ME
Adopted and raised by parents from England, I was raised with a reverence for family. I developed a love of music, reading and nature and as an adult I realized I had a love for any hobby that involved creating things, especially woodworking, electrical and gardening, and a fascination for the history of things.
EXPERIENCE
I began working in the mental health field in 2005 when I graduated from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. I started my career working with teens and young adults in a residential setting where I supported the repair of long term abuse and complex trauma. I returned to school in 2017 to complete my Master's Degree in Social Work.
I found myself working with in-home therapy for two years before my path lead me to crisis services. I continued to hone my skills engaging with people experiencing acute psychiatric emergencies. I was promoted to a co-responder - a new roll that worked directly with law enforcement responding with them to calls for service involving individuals in psychiatric or substance-use crisis.
I was promoted to supervise multiple other co-responders and began to provide more training for staff and police officers on how to engage with community members experiencing a variety of psychiatric illnesses. This training expanded to include the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) programing, which has assisted me in becoming a consulting resource for both the mental health field as well as the law enforcement field's of study and training.
EDUCATION
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Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - Bachelors in Sociology
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Westfield State University - Masters in Social Work
- LICSW (MA)
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LCSW (CT)
SPECIALTIES
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Adults and Families
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Individuals and Couples
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Stress and trauma
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Anxiety disorders
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Addiction
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PTSD
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Work Life Balance
New Location/Staff
In March of 2026, Responder's Refuge continues it growth journey with its first move to its new location at 200 North Main street, Unit #11, East Longmeadow Ma 01028, this expansion includes growing from a since unit practice to a three location to meet the growing needs of its clientele. It has hired its first new clinician who provides therapy with a focus on the spouses and children of first responders.
With this expansion the goal for Responder's Refuge expands as well. If you are a first responders you likely aren't going through this experience alone, our families and children are affected by what we experience on the job and bring home unintentionally. It has always been the goal of Responder's Refuge to follow the tenants of Social Work, one of which is to treat the individual, treat the family and to attempt to treat the system because if we work on systems level problems we reduce the likelihood of development of symptoms in the first place.
CONTACT ME
If you are interested in services. Please reach out by phone or email.
PHONE
413-435-6036
ADDRESS
200 North Main Street
Unit #11, East Building
East Longmeadow Ma,
01028
