Emely and Kealey

Emely (left) and Kealey (Right)

These sisters aren't letting loss define them.

Emely, 20, and Kealey, 17, unexpectedly lost their mother ten years ago. They both struggled to cope at first but began to heal after they started coming to group nights at Valerie's House. 

The girls are now Valerie's House Ambassadors and help lead grief groups. They even help with our Spanish-speaking families, as the sisters are bilingual. 

"Valeries House has helped me with my grief journey by helping me realize that I am not alone and helping me make connections with the people around me," Emely said. "It's helped me allow myself to feel my grief and to learn how to express it. Valerie's House has helped me honor and remember my mom.

Kealey agreed and recalled how she's changed since first coming to Valerie's House.

"Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a parent," Kealey said. "I've now realized that feeling a lot of emotions is normal and that I will be okay because I have people supporting me. I have learned to accept help and not deal with things by myself. It's okay to not be okay."

In addition to being able to talk about their mom, Emely and Kealey have learned several positive coping skills since coming to group nights at Valerie's House.

"Some things I like to do include listening to music and practicing deep breathing," Emely said. "I also like to journal or just type my feelings out, but my favorite is talking to a person who I trust."

Kealey said she likes to copy by spending time outside to help get her mind off things.

Although the girls are just starting their lives as young adults, they have big plans for their futures.

Kealey sees herself going to college and becoming a flight attendant.

Emely said that she wants to help grieving kids just like her.

"In the future, I imagine that I will have graduated with my master's degree in social work," Emely said. "I want to work somewhere like Valerie's House, helping families in need and making a difference in the community."

Ashley

Ashley is a teen in the Valerie's House program whose mom died last year. She recently completed volunteer training to be a group night buddy and support grieving children like her.

In addition to her volunteer work, Ashley put together these special bags for new kids enrolled in the Valerie's House program as a part of her senior project at Canterbury School in Fort Myers. Each bag has a journal and a personal letter to help our children feel less alone.

Thank you, Ashley, for being so considerate and welcoming our new families with open arms.

Grady

Grady is a Valerie’s House teen who lost his mother. Hear his personal story on how he found friendship and hope at Valerie’s House and learned he wasn’t alone in his grief.

Alexis

Check out this video from Alexis, who is a Valerie's House teen. She started coming to group night after the loss of her grandmother in 2020. Alexis plans to graduate from Mariner High School in the spring and recently started working with our grief support groups as a buddy. She created this video in hopes of receiving a scholarship to pursue higher education. We are so proud of Alexis for her hard work and dedication to the children of Valerie's House.

Mackenzie

MACKENZIE ACCEPTING THE VH SCHOLARSHIP FOR GRIEVING CHILDREN

Mackenzie didn’t know what would happen after her mother died of complications from a stroke in February 2020. Her mother was a single parent, and after her death, 16-year-old Mackenzie moved across the state from Port Saint Lucie to Naples to live with distant family.

Due to the COVID lockdown weeks after her tragic loss, Mackenzie was forced to grieve in isolation. However, after finding Valerie’s House through the recommendation of a school counselor, she no longer feels like she is grieving alone. 

“Valerie’s House gave me comfort and gave me friends,” Mackenzie said. “It didn’t feel like normal therapy; it felt like I was having conversations about my grief with friends who understood and didn’t just pretend to understand. I was able to talk about how I felt and what I was going through without judgment.”

Mackenzie is a member of the teen group at Valerie’s House- Naples. She regularly attends group nights and connects with other kids who have lost a caregiver or a sibling.

Since receiving support at Valerie’s House, she’s found several positive ways to cope with the loss of her mom, including writing and listening to music. She is currently giving back to Valerie’s House by volunteering as a group buddy to help grieving kids like her.

Mackenzie recently graduated from Gulf Coast High School this past spring and is attending Florida Gulf Coast University to study forensics. She also recently received the Valerie’s House Scholarship for Grieving Children.

“I owe Valerie’s House everything,” said Mackenzie. “I honestly don’t think I would still be here if it weren’t for this place. It means everything to me.”

Taylor

Taylor was seventeen years old and in her senior year of high school when her mother died by suicide.

Taylor and Her Mom

Between college applications and balancing a social life, she became overwhelmed when grief came into the mix.

Taylor was introduced to Valerie’s House in January 2017, three months after the death of her mother. She was hesitant to talk about her loss; however, she was relieved to find other teens just like her.

“Talking about my mom’s death forced me to acknowledge that she was gone,” Taylor said. “At home, I didn’t have a strong support system since everyone was grieving in different ways. At Valerie’s House, I not only gained a support system but a family.”

She also said that attending group nights allowed her to learn skills to cope with her grief. Her feelings towards the loss of her mother developed and evolved after each meeting.

Taylor described the variety of emotions she struggled with after the death. 

“For a while, I felt that what she did was selfish, and I couldn’t understand why,” Taylor said. “I also felt ashamed and guilty. I was embarrassed that I no longer had a mom and the manner in which I lost her. I felt that it was my fault. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about my grief until I found Valerie’s House.”

Since graduating from high school in 2017, Taylor has accomplished things she said wouldn’t have been possible without the support from Valerie’s House.

She graduated from Florida Atlantic University in three years with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science, became a licensed EMT, and enrolled in an accelerated nursing program at Nova Southeastern University to obtain her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Taylor has now returned to Valerie’s House as a volunteer and is working directly with our children in the grief groups. 

She has taken a personal tragedy and transformed it to provide healing for others.

“I feel that Valerie’s House has helped me to become a confident, successful young woman,” Taylor said. “It helped me understand my grief and has taught me how to use my story to empower others. It made me feel normal again.”

Taylor connects with our kids because she has lived their current reality.

She was afraid to tell her story in the beginning, like many of the children on their first night. Taylor helps them find their voice and walks them through their grief journey.

We are excited to have her as a part of our team.

“In a way, I feel closer to my mom now,” Taylor said. “Although we never get over a loss, we can learn to live with it.”

Taylor and Her Mom

Taylor Today

Stori

Stori held her mother’s hand while overwhelmed with emotion. She was receiving treatment following the onset of a sudden illness and Stori comforted her through the night, with plans to leave in the morning.

Stori and her mom

The doctors said her mother would recover quickly and head home in a few days; however, that was not the case.

It was Stori’s father, Kevin, that broke the news.

“At that moment, my heart sunk and my life shattered apart,” Stori said. “I was in a dark place after losing my mom, and I didn’t know how to function anymore. I had lost the one person who I thought I could never live without.”

Stori was 13 years old when she lost her mother due to medical complications in 2015.

Shortly after the loss, Stori tried individual counseling but didn’t benefit from the experience. She still felt lost and hopeless without her special person.

It wasn’t until she attended a Valerie’s House group night when she finally felt like there was a place she belonged.

“I found ways to live on and power through my grief,” Stori said. “I’ve come to realize the strength that I have. I’ve met wonderful people who share similar stories with me and having that type of support system has made this journey feel less isolating.”

Stori said she was hesitant to come to our teen grief-support group, but after she finished her first one, she asked her father if they could come back in two weeks for the next meeting.

Kevin attests to Stori’s growth and has also experienced his own growth since attending group night at Valerie’s House.

Stori and her dad

“I just remember having this feeling of being exactly where we needed to be,” Kevin said. “Initially, we felt hope. The hope that we were going to get through this tragic loss and heal on an individual level and a family level. Hope was the greatest gift.”

Today, Stori gives back to Valerie’s House by volunteering as a group facilitator and working directly with grieving teens like herself.

In the next five years, she plans to continue her education and eventually become a clinical psychologist working with children struggling with mental illness and grief.

“I couldn’t have gone through this alone,” Stori said. “I’ve grown, and I don’t think I could’ve reached this point without understanding the emotions and grief that I was feeling. I wouldn’t have been able to understand any of it without Valerie’s House.”

Austin

Lost, numb, and just going through the motions—that’s how Valerie’s House Teen Ambassador Austin Wolin described himself in the year and a half after his father’s unexpected death.

“I don’t even think I realized I was grieving at the time,” Austin said, who was just twelve when he lost his dad, Harris.

His grades were suffering, he turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms to get by, and he felt completely alone. Austin’s relationship with his mother, Tanya, had also become strained after the devastating loss.

“Austin and I were completely broken, individually and as a family,” Tanya said. “We both agreed we needed something or someone before we were forever torn apart.”

In the months following Harris’ death, Austin and Tanya went to a grief support group organized by a local hospice. They were disappointed to find that the group was made up entirely of widowed mothers with not a single male or child who may be able to better relate to what Austin was going through.

That’s what made Valerie’s House so impactful.

Just months after Valerie’s House had first opened in Fort Myers, a caring teacher at Austin’s high school recommended it to the Wolins. Skeptical but not sure where else to turn, Austin came to his first peer grief support group night in 2016.

“It was nothing like I expected,” Austin said. “It was so homey, and it just felt like a family right away.”

Austin remembers that first visit to Valerie’s House like it was yesterday – his mom made macaroni and cheese to bring to the potluck dinner with the other families and he met kids who had lost a parent, just like him, for the first time since his dad died. Now, he helps other kids feel welcome at Valerie’s House.

“Valerie’s House changed my world, honestly,” Austin said. “I’ve realized that so much of grief is dependent on how we deal with it, and I’ve learned how to do that here, with the support of this community.”

Austin is a group buddy to four different Valerie’s House peer grief support groups. He is very close with his mom again and hopes to pursue a career in psychology.