Colleen Nick

But oftentimes then we're helping them generate those flyers.

We're helping organize searches.

We're helping mobilize media contacts.

And then also letting law enforcement know that like we're watching them and we expect them to do a good job and give them the attention they deserve.

Absolutely.

I would say in the response to like this overwhelming stress, one of the most comforting things that you can do for people in these situations is let them know that they're heard and they're seen and they're validated and that we believe them and that they know their loved one best and that something is wrong.

And we're here to help them fix that.

Absolutely.

We also help coach families in how to speak to the media, sit with them to make sure they can work through the stress levels, the grief.

But honestly, the most impactful words typically come from the families.

And then if they need a spokesperson or they feel that they want that, we can help with that too.

From like our community, it's humanizing people.

This is a daughter.

This is a son.

This is a friend.

This is a person who had hopes and dreams.

I think kind of the uncomfortable truth here when it comes to my community and families that we work with is that this usually isn't their first rodeo.

Oftentimes, families that we've worked with have had multiple people in their families either be victims of homicide or they've had other family members go missing that have never been recovered before.

So unfortunately, most of our family members are all too familiar with this pain and this circumstance, which is kind of where our task force was founded in the first place.

Yeah.