Viki Brown from Dustin’s Place in Plymouth gave a 1-year snapshot of the success the non-profit assistance center has seen in the last 12 months.
She said, “One in twelve children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn eighteen. Unless you’ve experienced this type of grief, it is impossible to understand how alone and hopeless this early trauma can make a child feel. Through the death of my husband, I experienced this grief firsthand with my own children. As a mom, I couldn’t fathom what they were going through, and yet at the same time I was walking through my own grief. We needed support but I had no idea where to turn.”
Brown said now, no one will grieve alone in our community! Dustin’s Place is committed to supporting grieving children, teens, and adults through free peer grief support.
Research shows that without intervention, early childhood trauma, such as the death of a parent or sibling, combined with the grief-related adversity of issues at home such as financial strain, a move or loss of community or divorce following the death of a loved one can lead to short and long term difficulties. Children walking through grief alone often experience mental health concerns, academic problems, low self-esteem, self-harm behaviors and even early mortality rates. But through timely support offered at critical points in their journey, we can prevent these difficulties! Dustin’s Place is honored to walk with these children through their grief journeys.
Dustin’s Place served over 58 people in the community in their first year. They received FREE peer grief support. Nineteen volunteers complete the 2-day children’s grief training and they currently offer 9 grief support groups for children as young as 5 years old through adults every other Monday night.
Through the generous support they were able to do all of this at no charge to the families that attend Dustin’s Place. The non-profit is currently seeking support for 2021 and asked if businesses or citizens could donate $20 to help them continue the crafts that allow children to process their grief hands or a $75 donation would provide a hot dinner for families attending before group sessions. Any gift amountwill help ensure that no one grieves alone in our community! Donating is easy through a secure online donation site. https://kindest.com/243530-dustins-place
