Mourning Hope's History
The Mourning Hope Grief Center was founded in 1994 by Pam Dinneen and Kay Kronholm, both public educators, school counselors and crisis response team members. Pam and Kay had supported grieving children, teens and their families throughout their professional careers, and began investigating the community supports available to grieving families in Nebraska. Finding very limited resources, Pam and Kay attended numerous grief seminars, including training at Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon. Throughout their travels and studies, they received the tools needed to develop a board of directors and establish the Mourning Hope Grief Center.
Mourning Hope founders closely assessed various theoretical approaches to grief and developed the core 10-night program at the suggestion of mentor, author and trainer Dr. Alan Wolfelt. The program holds a philosophy of companioning people through their loss, allowing the griever to teach us what they need to heal on their grief journey. The companioning model suggests that grievers embrace and explore the painful experience of grief in a safe, supportive environment. Thus, the name Mourning Hope was chosen because we believe in the healing power of mourning together which will give hope for a future to live, love and laugh again.
The first support group met in the fall of 1994 at the Belmont Rec Center. The group consisted of teens in addition to a support group for their caregivers. After the first group was held, families requested support for younger kids. Mourning Hope moved to the Sheridan Lutheran Church basement and began offering groups for elementary-, middle- and high-school aged children and their caregivers. As the program grew, a larger space was needed and Mourning Hope moved to Lux Middle School to accommodate the increase in participants and volunteers for the weekly series. While at Lux, Mourning Hope began to offer professional workshops to counselors and teachers to assist them in their daily work with grieving children. Mourning Hope also occupied space at Garner Industries, Lincoln Medical Education Foundation and Baldwin Avenue on Nebraska Wesleyan's campus. After a feasibility study and $4 million capital campaign, Mourning Hope built our dream center at 1311 South Folsom Street where we are presently located.
Programming at Mourning Hope has grown from a single 10-night family grief support group to include community education events, 8-week school-based groups, young adult grief support, adult grief support, Mourning in Motion and Holiday Hope day programs, summer support, Camp Erin Lincoln and the Spirit of Giving holiday program. And Mourning Hope continues to grow and expand its services to the Lincoln community and beyond.
