Emily Terrell said her days are filled with appointments; meeting with those kids who need little extra support.
"We are geared to working with really behavioral issues and what not," Terrell said. "We have a case load that we have to work on and sped kids we have to provide interventions for."
A social worker at JW Faulk, Terrell said because her caseload is so high, some children fall by the wayside.
"Those mental health students take a back seat because of those other priorities that we have," Terrell said. "Healing House coming in and providing those services for free to get these kids to have some type of services to connect with grief and grief counseling is amazing to me."
Statistics show that an estimated 6 million children in the U.S. will experience the death of a parent or sibling.
"We are fifth in the nation for bereaved children," Kim Thackston, development director of Healing House, said. "In Louisiana one in nine children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they graduate high school. That's a lot of grieving children and that's a lot for our schools to handle as well---that's a lot of big emotions."
Thackston added that there are many children in Acadiana, for whatever reason, not able to go through their doors.
"We were able to reach a whole other group of children that are able to receive our services for their grief through the groups we're doing at the schools."
It is a service that has taken some of the weight off of social workers like Terrell; it gives her peace of mind that every child is getting the help they need.
"Around that third, fourth, fifth session that Mandy came in they really created a bond," Terrell said. "The bond that they had was, if a fourth grader saw a first grader going to lunch, they would stop and ask how their day was going? To see that bond and connectiveness over something that has been so tragic in their lives, and know they have that support and comfort over grade levels is pretty amazing."
From a small home in Downtown Lafayette to a permanent structure on Beadle Road, events like Martinis continue to help children learn how to live with grief.
You can head to www.healing-house.org for more information and also to get in on the martini action!
The live auction for the year's gala is currently open. There are over 100 items and packages available to bid on: trips, experiences, jewelry, health and beauty items, home décor items, men's packages.
The drawing for a Dianna Rae Butterfly Pendant is Monday, August 21st. Raffle tickets are $20, and the pendant is valued at $5,000.