A Case for Support 

The Hope & Healing Place (HHP) represents the spirit and values of the communities that make up the Texas Panhandle. Melvin and Jo Beighle of Skellytown, Texas, embraced this dream. Because of their generous hearts and contributions, it became a reality on February 05, 2003. Under the direction of the Founders Beth Kean and Tricia Trimble, the Generations Family Program was launched and remains the foundational program of The Hope & Healing Place to this day. These ladies began as AISD school counselors and quickly recognized the adverse effects that unresolved grief was having on the student population and understood that when people receive bereavement support, the socio-economic costs of unresolved grief can be avoided. Upon retiring from the school district, the ladies opened a private counseling practice, Solutions Support Center, as a pathway to see their vision come to fruition. Eventually, they retired and donated the building to The Hope & Healing Place. We desire to keep the spirit of hope and healing alive for the wonderful families of this area. The programs and operations of HHP are under the oversight of the Board of Directors and the Staff of HHP.   

Our HHP facility is not just a facility, it's a home. A 1920s-era home, converted into office-like spaces, while maintaining the homie and comforting environment. Our facility is comprised of three adult program rooms, five age-specific kid's rooms, and a gathering room with kitchen amenities. It’s located near I-40 and I-27 with easy access from neighboring rural areas. We have designed it to be a welcoming environment where healing can take place, and where you can feel comfortable and at ease. 

We are the only FREE grief support services provider for children and their families in the top 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle.  Throughout our 8-session cycle, we save the average family of 4 over $10,000 in mental health service costs. Individuals presenting problems outside of our scope of services will be given a referral to an appropriate social service or counseling center.   

Throughout providing our services, we’ve renovated and completed two separate additions to the original facility to meet the growing needs of our programs and the comfort of our participants. We now find ourselves landlocked and would like additional outdoor areas to engage the children who attend our programs with more physical activities in a more conducive environment.  

Our Board of Directors held a Strategic Planning Session in 2023. It was determined that to continue to provide and grow our services, we must have more extensive facilities to fulfill the needs of our programs and for the staff to work more productively and cohesively. The new space will embody a home-like environment, much like our current downtown location, but will be built with industrial finishes capable of holding up to the wear and tear of daily use.  

We’ve also considered the future of our programming and will incorporate separate wings for children and adults. This would also allow us to concurrently host our adult-only programs while considering the safety of the children attending our programs. Each of the 6 rooms in the adult wing will be a more appropriate size to accommodate up to ten adult participants and two facilitators, adding to the comfort of the home-like environment and making it a little easier for these vulnerable and challenging conversations. The rooms in the children’s wing will make room for the creative art interventions we’ve always had and space for imaginative play, which is a child's most instinctual way to communicate. Of course, the heart of our program evenings will not be overlooked as we’ll increase our dining space as we start each night breaking bread, taking a deep breath, and having those heartfelt dinner conversations – giving each of the participants a time of reprieve for their long and often overwhelming days. We’ve been told numerous times over the years that it’s frequently the first-time families have been around a dinner table since the death of their significant person. 

Goals

• As an organization, we strive to: 

• To provide a safe place for participants to tell their stories of grief. 

• To witness our participants' journey for whatever time it may take. 

• To companion them with compassion and assure them they are not alone. 

• To teach coping skills that will provide cohesion in the family dynamic.  

• To allow them to celebrate the joys of life again. 

• Regarding the capital campaign, we will: 

• Raise 3.5 million to support the construction of a new House for HHP. This home will provide a comforting environment where our participants can find relief from the overwhelming feeling of grief and be supported throughout their journey. 

• To better serve the children who need physical outlets to communicate and give adults the space they need while having challenging and vulnerable conversations. 

• To be in ADA compliance and accessibility to our participants.

Objectives 

• The addition of more adult rooms allows us the ability to enroll more children. Due to our current limited space our programs' enrollment is often capped. 

• Dedicated office space allows the participants to gather in rooms free from the clutter of day-to-day operations, which helps with our team's productivity. 

• Provide a more spacious environment for dinners before program evenings. 

• This allows participants to recoup from their day before processing complex thoughts and emotions. 

We propose to build a new facility that is approximately 15,000 square feet, like that of The Warm Place in Fort Worth. This will be a home-like environment with a front façade that resembles the beloved original home of HHP. HHP plans to construct this new facility on land gifted by Southwest Church of Christ in a long-term land lease agreement at 4415 Cornell Street. At the time of the current facility sale, SWCoC has agreed to make space available in their church for the nominal cost of allocated utility fees, allowing HHP to continue to provide its services. 

Rather than building a multi-level house, we are interested in a central space consisting of the reception, gathering room, and resource space, with three wings separating the administrative, adult, and kids program areas. 

• Welcome Wing (Reception) 

• Drive up covered drop off. 

• Reception space can be a flex space to be used for an adult space for future growth. 

• Allows the participants a space to walk in and decompress before joining everyone for dinner. 

• Gathering Room (Dining) with a buffet serving space and a communal area to accommodate 175. 

• Drive up storage for program resources and event supplies. 

• Pass through a commercial-grade kitchen to limit access. 

• Outdoor Dining 

• Adult Program Wing 

• 6 rooms (double the number of our current rooms, plus space to comfortably seat 12 adults). 

• Male and Female Restrooms for adult use (separate from the children) 

• Furnished with individual seats, allowing for personal space. 

• Children’s Program Wing 

• 6 spaces for age-appropriate groups. This includes extra room for growth and/or to rotate each group through differing spaces. 

• An “activity space” for imaginative play and to release pent-up energy. 

• A kid-friendly yard space. 

• Male and Female restrooms for the use of minor participants (separate from the adults). 

• Administrative Wing 

• Office space for five staff directors 

• Central collaborative workspaces for interns and coordinators  

• Printing Room 

• The Community Room will host board meetings and facilitator training and serve as a “locker room” for the facilitators on program evenings. 

• Additional notes 

• ADA Compliant 

• Allergy-friendly flooring 

• Courtyard areas for outdoor gathering opportunities 

• Parking Lot 

• Security and wireless internet system 

• Industrial finishes to endure wear and tear 

We provide grief support for children, their families, and individuals grieving the death of a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, relative, or close friend at no cost.   

• Support Groups: We provide grief support services for children and their families and adult-only programs. Individuals presenting problems outside of our scope of services will be referred to an appropriate social service or counseling center.   

• Special Programs: HHP occasionally offers one-day workshops and other events. These are generally open to the public and topic-specific (for example, Hope for the Holidays).   

• Psychoeducational Services: The community is offered training on handling grief in the workplace and schools. Your compassionate contribution of a minimum of $100 for time and materials ensures we can continue supporting those navigating the challenging grief journey.    

“The services provided at The Hope & Healing Place will go beyond our eight sessions and help us deal with life's difficulties throughout the rest of our lives.”  These words from a previous participant perfectly echo studies of grief support centers like ours. 

On average, each year, we provide 4,000 service hours FREE of charge and operate with a budget of half of what those services would cost.  

In 2024, HHP: 

• Provided 852 hours of psychoeducational services during 20 presentations for 347 children and adults throughout the panhandle. 

• 2,630 support hours were provided to children and their families in our Generations  

• Program. An increase of 1,311 hours from 2023 197 hours of support were given to mothers who are grieving a child due to pregnancy or  infant death. 

• 86 hours for survivors of suicide loss 

• 1,968 hours of fun-filled camp experiences helping children see hope and smile again. 

• Served 720 hot meals with our “Potluck Partners” to gather families together before excusing them to “do the work of grief”.  

• Overall hours served in 2024 was 4,925. The value of $861,962 of FREE mental health services were given to the community. 

With more space, we’ll begin to bridge the gap of the additional 41,040 hours needed for the remaining children (plus their families) we do not currently have room to serve.  

Death is a challenging subject. Most people want to avoid it, yet it is 100% a reality of life. Everyone must face the pain of death. The good news is that because of grief centers like The Hope and Healing Place, no one must face death's aftermath alone. By introducing them to others experiencing the same difficulties and offering the necessary tools, HHP helps them embrace their ‘new reality”.  

The emotional burden of the loss of a loved one – sadness, anger, stress, guilt, regret, numbness, lack of control, sleep deprivation, fatigue, muddled thinking, memory difficulties, and disconnection from others – takes a toll on those who grieve. Time may not always heal deep grief, but compassionate group support and tolls for healthy grieving can help alleviate these burdens that not only have a personal cost. Still, they may also turn into costs to our healthcare system. Specifically, unresolved grief can lead to: 

• Depression- Many studies document the walk between grief and depression/anxiety in adults and the need for treatment, specifically when PTSD is diagnosed. Links have also been made for bereaved teens and depression, as well as long-term mental health problems for children after the death of a parent. 

• Cardiovascular Risk - heartbreak can lead to cardiovascular and immune system weakness, as several studies show. 

• Complicated Grief— The Center for Complicated Grief (www.complicatedgrief.org) defines complicated grief as “a form of grief that takes hold of a person's mind and won't let go. People with complicated grief often say they feel stuck.” Factors affecting grief that don't subside include the grieving person's characteristics, the type of death, other challenging factors in that person's life, and the relationship with the person who died. Often, these people need professional intervention. 

• Substance abuse treatment - Youth and adults may turn to alcohol and drugs to mask the pain. Often, these behaviors mask the underlying grief cause. Adults also turn to numbing substances when the pain is intense. People frequently call HHP while in treatment because the emotions come back up once they are clean and sober. 

• Recurring illness and increased healthcare costs - studies have shown a 30% increase in childhood visits to the doctor after death, and also lament the lack of grief support services. 

• Decreased workplace productivity—The Grief Recovery Institute estimated the annual cost of workplace grief to be $75 billion. This figure includes the death of a loved one ($3.5 billion) and pet loss ($2.4 billion). The Compassionate Friends in Victoria, Australia, studied parents who had lost children and found an average leave without pay of 15.5 weeks and a significant impact on their work performance. 

• Longer-term unemployment— Research has linked the death of a parent to long-term unemployment. 

• Childhood bereavement challenges - One study showed that one in seven children will lose a sibling or parent before the age of 20. Children are more likely to have behavioral problems, abuse alcohol and drugs, experience anxiety, act out, have social challenges, struggle in school, and or experience reoccurring illness and behavioral health challenges. 

• Teen pregnancy - bereaved teens are more likely to get pregnant, especially with sudden and traumatic death. 

• Developmental challenges in children and teens -research has found that when a parent has died, especially from sudden death, adolescents have lower competence in work, peer relations, career planning, and educational aspirations. So-called maladaptive grief in kids can impact social and academic development. 

• Marital life – After the death of a child, a couple will face challenges in their relationship due to the difference in their grief reactions, which could lead to counseling costs and sometimes divorce. 

• Financial decline - Studies point to loss of financial stability after a death, especially from the loss of a spouse or child. 

• Stigma of suicide death - Grief is more likely to become complicated because of the guilt, stigma, shame, and feelings of rejection by those left behind. 

• Early mortality - Studies looking at early mortality, including from suicide, suggest a higher risk for the bereaved, especially for certain types of loss, such as the death of a child or spouse. 

The Hope & Healing Place operates on an annual budget of approximately $420,000. Our program services are free of charge to all participants, regardless of ability to pay; this is often met with tears of relief – knowing that their family needs the additional support but can’t afford it. 

HHP maintains two trust accounts and a fund at AAF valued at $676,993. These funds are retained as “rainy day” monies for the organization's longevity, and to date, there have been no requests for distribution.  

People can heal and embrace life again by sharing stories, connecting with others, and learning techniques for healthy grieving. Research and our experience show that group support intervention for both children and adults and educating the guardians and other adults in kids' lives can lead to healthy grieving and avoid the costs of unresolved grief as children grow to adulthood. 

Your generous investment allows The Hope & Healing Place to companion each participant through their grief journey while providing the coping skills needed to strengthen the individual and family unity as they continue through life. The impact of grief support is immeasurable. Studies show that those who are unable to process the complexity of grief appropriately have a higher rate of divorce, suicide and at-risk behaviors such as alcoholism and drug abuse. This is echoed by many of our participants who tell us, “I don’t know where I’d be without HHP.” 

We found the Hope and Healing Place after the death of my son’s mother—my ex-wife. We were referred to them by a school counselor that highly recommended them. I was lost, my son was lost, and his grandmother, my ex-wife’s mother, was lost. I was grasping for any and all help that came my way, so I picked up the phone and called HHP. 

Hearing Candice’s voice on phone gave me an immediate sense of reassurance that there was hope. I listened to her and I cried, but I also began to see a path out of all the death and despair that was surrounding us. I was drowning in feelings of helplessness from not knowing how to help my son. After our enrollment into the Generation’s program, I knelt down, folded my hands, and told God thank you for sending one of his earthy angels to help my son, myself, and his grandmother. I didn’t know it then, but I would soon come to find a whole host of earthly angels at HHP. 

The first part of the program is a meal that not only provides physical sustenance but also feeds the soul by providing a community of grieving families. The meals are amazing. Every week you meet new participants, facilitators, and volunteers each helping in their own ways to create an atmosphere of love, respect, and commonly broken hearts. 

Some say I have a looming presence and tend to shy away from my large frame. Not Jennifer! Half my size with this little soft voice—she never shied away, never even blinked. In facilitating our group meetings, she responded to my initial unwillingness to share my feelings by giving me space and gently nudging me, each week, with love and patience. 

At first, my son did not want to go to the HHP. Like any 10-year-old, he thought kids would laugh at him, make fun of him, or ostracize him. It was difficult to reassure him in the weeks leading up to our first meeting, but at one point I had a revelation and told him, “maybe you aren’t going for you, maybe you’re going to help someone else?” This he could get on board with, and would you know it, one of his fellow boy scouts was in his group. It’s like God knew they both needed someone to help the other heal, understand, and cope. They are no longer in scouts together, but still give each other a hug when they see each other—no words needed. It only took my son a couple of sessions before I started seeing changes. For my stubborn self it took four sessions before Jennifer finally nudged her last nudge, my dam broke, and all that emotion came flooding out. 

My son’s grandmother attended the program with us as well. We went from riding to Generations in awkward silence to talking about our days. We began to plan things, make schedules, and eat together. We started living again. HHP taught us how to take the pause button off our lives. I could finally breathe, and my son was laughing and playing again. They really gave my son back to me. And they gave his grandmother back to him. We will forever have HHP’s mark on our hearts and souls. I thank God every day for the people at HHP and the many volunteers that keep it going for all those who need it. 

Heath Henderson 

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To Whom it May Concern: 

Heartprints has been a huge blessing in my journey after the loss of my son, Nathan James. He was born 2/3/2016 and lived for 2 hours.  

 
I started coming a few weeks after my son went to heaven. I knew for 25 of the 36 weeks I carried him that he wouldn’t be with us long, if he survived birth at all, so I had been preparing to say goodbye for many weeks but actually doing it was a whole other thing.  

 
The support I have gotten from Heartprints has been a Godsend for sure. There have been lots of times in the last 2 1/2 years that all I can think of is joining my son. I see a therapist regularly but being with other moms in this club gives me a place to vent and express all the grief that goes along with losing a newborn as well as remember and talk about him without worrying about the awkward silence I get with so many people, my own family included. When they share their stories it gives me hope that I will make it through this too.  

 
I am a neonatal ICU nurse and have been able to pass along information about this group to the families whose babies we couldn’t save. I am able to tell them firsthand how valuable this group is and I’m glad to have something to offer them in such a tough time.  
 

Shelly Evans  

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The Hope and Healing Place  

For years I had yearned to see the residence housing HHP. I visited the facility one morning to sell life insurance. HA!!!  

Well, let me tell you the Director gave me a tour and told me about their different programs. I was so overwhelmed by what I learned, I never even uttered the word “insurance”. I went straight back to my office and completed a facilitator application. That was 2018 and I have had the privilege to serve in that capacity ever since.  

For me, just walking into this beautiful home brings me so much joy, peace and anticipation. From the first session of a cycle through the eighth we see how our families incorporate what they have learned about navigating such inconsolable grief to building new relationships with the families in their group. What a GIFT!!!!!!!  

By the third session everyone is acquainted with each to the extent of “I’m not in this alone.” You can actually see the love they have for each other through the rest of the cycle.  

How wonderful to know that they will carry the tools acquired during a session and have heard testimonies that the families have shared with others that cross their path.  

Now, let me tell you about the amazing people that feed us at each session! These individuals do not skimp on these meals. We would unlikely have such success without them!!  

I love everything about The Hope and Healing Place.  

Nora Shirley