Adolescent healing centers located throughout the state of Michigan are traveling outside their zip codes and into the classrooms.
Ele’s Place is a non-profit, community based organization that is dedicated to healing grieving children and teens who have experiences loss. They serve communities in the Capital Region, Ann Arbor, West Michigan, and Greater Flint area.
In addition to their community safe place, the grieving program decided to travel within a 30-mile radius into middle and high schools throughout Michigan.
“We really want to keep them talking and processing what their experiences have been,” said Ele’s Place School Program Coordinator Laura Forstat.
The program is eight weeks long and with support from their local communities, they are able to help students return to the classroom with a better outlook.
Delta Dental recently gifted $85,000 to their school based program. Their spokesperson, Lisa Ermak said Ele’s Place is helping to build a vibrant community.
“We never want a child, or a teenager or families for that matter, to go through the grieving process alone,” Ermak said.