Skip Global navigation and goto content

It's a New Day in Public Health.

The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

Skip MegaMenu and goto content
Left navigation requires javascript to be enabled in your browser.

Project Safe Place

FL Dept. of Health in St. Lucie County

Throughout St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, highly-visible yellow and black signs are displayed on the exterior of various businesses that comprise the network of Safe Place sites where young people can go if they need help quickly.

When a youngster goes to a SafePlace requesting assistance, an employee at the site calls the Wave C.R.E.S.T. shelter on Selvitz Road in Fort Pierce. A shelter counselor dispatches a staff member or trained volunteer to the SafePlace to meet with and then transport the youth to Wave C.R.E.S.T. for counseling.

The program is highly successful in reaching youth during the early stages of crisis due to one simple fact: youth are more inclined to go to a SafePlace in their own neighborhood than to seek out the shelter.

National Scope

Project SafePlace is a nationally-acclaimed prevention and outreach program available in over 600 communities across the country. It was developed and implemented in 1983 by the YMCA Shelter House for Runaways in Louisville, KY.

The program is designed to assist youth that are at-risk, in crisis, or have run away from home Project Safe Place offers the protection of a network of sites across the U.S. where young people can go if they need help quickly.

For more information, Visit the SafePlace Website.