The sweet sound of a child’s laughter is not what you think you might hear after a child has lost a loved one or parent. But at the new Heart of the Cumberland grief center, these are just the sounds they want to hear.

Jill Horner is the founding board member for the Center.  “It really started as a passion of mine when I lost my mother when I was 7 and I knew what that was like in terms of a child’s view of grief and there weren’t a lot of resources around here -- that I knew of anyway.”

Jill’s vision came alive with the help of a hospice nurse and other teachers followed by the donation of seed money from the Kay Brown Martin family.  A gift of space from Mark Loftis was the final piece of the puzzle that helped to create a new, warm home for the Heart of the Cumberland.

“This center is a safe place for children to come and share the feelings that they have (after loss)." said Nanci Dalton, the center’s director.

We listened as Dalton asked some children, “What do you miss most about the person who died?”  One of the girls answered "the last time she took us to the park."

The children do activies to express themselves and help them process the feelings they are having.  Dalton explained "The day you found out your loved one died, pick all the stones you felt that day and put them in the backpack. Then put that backpack on.  It is pretty heavy in the beginning but after a few months of coming to the center we asked them to do it again and they put fewer stones in the bag.  Then it dawns on them -- I don’t have all those feelings anymore.”

Kat is raising her 3 grandchildren after her daughter passed away. She is attending an adult grief group at Heart of the Cumberland. ”When I’m going through moments of extreme grief or I’m missing my daughter so much that I can’t stand it, the women from my group are there. Whether they’re on the phone or in person just the feeling that they’re there and it helps me through.”

Today the Heart of the Cumberland can already tell they are making a difference.  “We’ve begun to see results. We’ve begun to see kids feel free to talk about the person they’ve lost."  Horner went on to explain "They can talk about it openly with kids in there group. So they feel like they’re not alone and not the only one this has happened to.  It helps them to cope and be able to express feelings. It helps the parents to know how to deal with their children when they’re going through grief processes.  We feel like we’ve come a long way in a short period of time.”

Heart of the Cumberland is a faith-based, non-profit center that relies solely on the donations of others. The Center is open for children age 4 and up and also has groups for adults. The Center offers divorce groups for children and adults as well. There is no charge for the Center’s services. For more information call 525-2600 or visit them at their website on-line.