Austin giving a tour at Valerie’s House Fort Myers during an Open House

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, now 19, 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.