Brooke’s Place for Grieving Young People. Brooke’s Place provides support groups, therapy services, and community education to empower children, teens, young adults, and their families to thrive during grief.
Brooke’s Place serves Central Indiana (Marion & surrounding counties).
Partnering with IUSSW is mutually beneficial for our organization and for practicum students. The Brooke’s Place support groups & camp program could not continue without the committed service of volunteers to facilitate groups and other grief support events. For Brooke’s Place, IUSSW practicum students help us maintain a strong, ongoing volunteer capacity to provide direct support services for grieving youth and families, while also engaging in program development and community engagement. IUSSW practicum students who serve with Brooke’s Place gain quality training and bereavement, group facilitation skills, developmentally appropriate therapeutic support strategies, and opportunities to work directly with various age groups (ages 3-29 + adult caregivers) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. This provides IUSSW students with a well-rounded experience demographically, while also gaining a specialized experience & training related to grief & loss.
Brooke’s Place is committed to investing in employee development & care to ensure our organization maintains a high level of professionalism, morale and support while caring for others through bereavement. Brooke’s Place is committed not only to the care of those we serve, but of our staff & volunteers as well. As staff are faced daily with the hard realities of death & grief, we are also continually reminded of the precious value of every life. We strive to honor those we serve by caring well for ourselves, our families, and one another – not only as a matter of self-care & preventing compassion fatigue/burnout, but to proactively steward the gift of life we have each been given.
Grief support groups & therapy services are available year-round for ages 3-29yo and their adult caregivers; a weekend grief camp is available for ages 7-17yo in the summer (Camp Healing Tree); community education is available through Brooke’s Place facilitator training and “My Grief is in Bursts!” CEU workshops, as well as speaking engagements related to childhood grief support. Volunteer and internship opportunities are available in the support group & camp programs, marketing/development, and through additional events, office support, or group volunteer partnerships.
A social work perspective brings a commitment to diversity & multicultural competency related to families, volunteers & organizational policies & structure; social justice advocacy and empowerment both within Brooke’s Place organization/programs & externally through intentional outreach and community engagement partnerships; socioeconomic consideration related to accessibility & range of services; ethical professionalism; commitment to the dignity & worth of each individual; consideration of person-in-environment and impact of society/culture; empowerment of choice in each individual’s personal grief journey & support needs.