Love of T Foundation Peer Support Program Keeps Expanding
Reader's note: This article discusses suicide and mental illness.
DALTON, Mass. — The Love of T Foundation has consistently grown its peer support program over the last few years, reaching almost 900 people in 2025.
Luke Fitzgerald founded the nonprofit in memory of his mother, Pittsfield resident Teresa Fitzgerald, who died by suicide on May 2, 2021. On Saturday, hundreds celebrated the Love of T's success since 2023 during the annual "Dance The Blues Away" Gala.
"The topic that we deal with, it's a sensitive topic, suicide, or the 'S' word, that people like to shy away from, not talk about, shut down, walk away. I can remember when my mom first died, people that would typically come up and say hi, just kept their head down and walked in the other direction," Fitzgerald said to about 325 people at the Stationery Factory.
"This is a topic that nobody wanted to talk about, but we're going to talk about it. We're going to keep talking about it. We're going to keep doing something about it."
He recalled the first board meeting at a rented conference room at the Best Western hotel, and starting the program with a "little germ of hope" in a coffee shop on Elm Street three years ago. The weekly peer support meetings reached 68 people in the first year and expanded to reach 245 people in 2024.
In 2025, the program expanded again, moving outreach to not only the Pomeroy House for crisis stabilization twice a week, but to Berkshire CSS (Clinical Stabilization Services) and the Jones 3 partial hospitalization program.
Love of T reached 885 people last year.
"Let's talk about the things that people don't want to hear, because sometimes being uncomfortable is the best way for growth, and that goes for personal or in the community," Fitzgerald said.
"And, you know, I don't feel shame or embarrassment about the manner in which my mother died, because I knew the power of the Love of T and what was possible. I think that as a community, we're doing better. We need to do better as a society."
Sarah Auge, whose mother was Teresa's best friend, said she was a part of her family then, and still is now. Auge can't believe it has been five years without her laughter and her smile, which were "very" contagious, or being an extra hand when anyone needed, which was often, she said.
"We are also so proud of Luke and all he has accomplished in these past five years. Luke could have gone one way with the passing of his mother, and instead, he chose to take this tragedy and create the most amazing peer support program that our community so desperately needed," she added.
"People can understand that they are not alone and that there is somebody else that has been in their shoes."
Fitzgerald said he wants the nonprofit to be known for making a difference in people's lives. A couple of program participants shared their experience and the difference Love of T made in their mental health journeys.
Lyn Clements described March 24, 2024, as "the darkest moment my soul had ever seen," and the kindness and de-escalation she received from Dalton Police dispatch in that moment. She learned about Love of T while at Berkshire Medical Center's partial hospitalization outpatient day therapy program shortly after, and felt that the drop-in meetings were ideal.
The support also comes with no referrals, no cost, and no waiting periods.
"What transpired in my soul when I began regularly attending meetings has been nothing short of cathartic. The connections made and friendships formed have changed my life for the better. I gladly carry with me the hearts of the attendees, but never in a heavy way, in a way that reminds me none of us are ever alone, and I have never been more alive," Clements said.
"In Massachusetts, there are roughly 7 million people. Berkshire County, though home to only 130,000 of the 7 million, has the second highest suicide rate of our 14 counties, 2 percent of the state population nearly leads in the suicide rate. Let that sink in, we are a county in deeper crisis than most. We are largely forgotten by the rest of the state. Through our distance and rural setting, funding cuts seem to hit us first, and the struggle to get mental health care here can be years long, like mine was."
A few years ago, when his life was in crisis, Ken Milano just wanted someone to sit across from him and tell him that he is understood and not broken, and to stay and tell his story. That day he entered the crisis system in the Berkshires and met some people who began to help.
When Milano found the Love of T program, he found that he was not alone and could say the hard thing out loud without being defined by it.
He is now employed as peer support staff.
"Our demons, and I know we all have them, they don't just disappear, but at Love of T, they don't get to run the place. We help each other live and get through it. For a long time, I thought no one could understand me, and I thought that the part of the tapestry that could work for me just didn't exist, and I bet, if we're being honest tonight, a fair number of us in this room have felt the exact same way," he said.
"Where you are is not what you are, but sometimes it seems impossible to remember that alone, grief, trauma, depression, addiction, anxiety, moments that rearrange your identity, we think we have to white knuckle it alone, but when we sit in a circle, and we speak honestly, something shifts. That is what Love of T gave to me, a place to be vulnerable and to be heard."
During the event, Matt Capeless was given the John Pando Award for dedication to community programming, Helen Dondi the James Schnurr Award for consistent and enthusiastic support, and Jessica Bourassa-Pitroff the Michael Capeless Award for dedication to peers in the community.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. To contact the Crisis Text Line, text HELLO to 741741. More information on crisis hotlines in Massachusetts can be found here.
Tags: fundraiser, gala, mental health,
