Join host Greg Boulos on The Boulos Beat as he delves into the inspiring journey of Gretchen Johnson, who transitioned from a dedicated volunteer and Board Member to the Executive Director of the Center for Grieving Children. In this episode, Gretchen discusses the Center’s mission to provide volunteer-led, age-specific peer support groups for those navigating grief. She shares her career progression, from her roles in marketing and business development at two prominent Portland law firms to her impactful contributions on the Center’s Board, culminating in her current leadership role as Executive Director. Additionally, Gretchen and Greg explore the Center's facilities, including the strategic acquisition of a building at 555 Forest Avenue and the profound impact this move has had on the organization. Tune in to learn more about the Center for Grieving Children's vital work and Gretchen Johnson’s inspiring path of dedication and leadership.
Join host Greg Boulos on The Boulos Beat as he delves into the inspiring journey of Gretchen Johnson, who transitioned from a dedicated volunteer and Board Member to the Executive Director of the Center for Grieving Children.
In this episode, Gretchen discusses the Center’s mission to provide volunteer-led, age-specific peer support groups for those navigating grief. She shares her career progression, from her roles in marketing and business development at two prominent Portland law firms to her impactful contributions on the Center’s Board, culminating in her current leadership role as Executive Director.
Additionally, Gretchen and Greg explore the Center's facilities, including the strategic acquisition of a building at 555 Forest Avenue and the profound impact this move has had on the organization.
Tune in to learn more about the Center for Grieving Children's vital work and Gretchen Johnson’s inspiring path of dedication and leadership.
GB
Greg Boulos
0:02
I'd like to welcome our listeners to the Boulos beat podcast. I'm your host, Greg Boulos. The Boulos company is northern New England's largest commercial real estate services firm with offices in Portland, Maine as well as Manchester and Portsmouth New Hampshire. We've been selling and leasing real estate in Maine and New Hampshire since 1975. This podcast is designed to provide insight into Maine's leaders, its movers and shakers, and speaking of leaders, I'd like to welcome Gretchen Johnson. Gretchen is the new executive director of the Center for grieving children. She took on that role in March 2024 following in the big shoes of an heroes who retired after 30 years of service with the center as the executive director, Gretchen guides the strategic planning for the center's continued service to children, families and individuals experiencing grief. Gretchen's ties to the center go back to 2007 shortly after she moved to Portland, initially, Gretchen served as a volunteer facilitator and later as Team Coordinator in the Monday night tender living care program for families living with life altering illnesses. In 2013 she joined the board of directors for a six year term. Gretchen currently serves as a trustee of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and as a board member of the Maine women's lobby Education Fund. She lives in Cape Elizabeth and spends her free time among friends at the gym, reading or listening to books and sharing the joys of Maine with her family. Gretchen, where did you grow up, and how did you happen to come to Maine?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
1:31
I grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and I lived there until I went off to college, and then I moved to Boston after college and lived there and worked for the state for about 10 years, and was drawn to the appeal of Maine as a lifestyle, as a place to live, as a place to own property instead of renting. I was sick of paying someone else's mortgage. I was ready to own a place of my own, and Portland was, at the time, an affordable way to live the way I wanted to live, that I couldn't get in Boston. Where in Boston, where would I was in a tiny neighborhood called Bay Village. It's right sort of near where the south end and Back Bay and Chinatown, the theater district, all meet,
GB
Greg Boulos
2:14
and you have a daughter, a significant other, and a dog. If you had to give up one of them, which one would it be?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
2:22
The dog? Since, actually, we have a cat.
GB
Greg Boulos
2:23
Oh, it's not a dog. You got out of that question. If you could go back in time and provide guidance to yourself when you were, say, 16 years old, what advice would you the older Gretchen give to younger Gretchen?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
2:41
That's a great question. I think the older Gretchen would tell the younger Gretchen that failure to make a decision is making a decision, and don't let not making a choice be what directs your life. Make sure you're actively participating in all the decisions that affect your life.
GB
Greg Boulos
2:57
Yeah, control it to the extent you can. Yeah. That's great advice. Gretchen, you worked for two of the largest law firms in Portland, Verrill Dana, and from there, you went to Preti Flaherty before joining the Center for grieving children. What did you do at these law firms, and why did you decide to switch from the private sector to the public nonprofit sector?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
3:18
I was in marketing and business development at both of those firms. I started at Verrill in around 2006 I began entry level. Learned everything about marketing and business development from the ground floor up. After I became the director of marketing, I was responsible for everything, including budgeting and hiring for my team, building, a team, mentoring. Strategic planning, events, relationship management, and all of those things I think were instrumental in getting me ready for the next move. The pandemic hit in 2020 and I was just starting a job at Preti, where I was doing attorney coaching, mostly one, one on one, Attorney business development coaching and strategic partnerships. And so that also helped get me ready for a role in nonprofit leadership. I was ready for a change, to a role where I could not only be the leader of an organization, but also an organization that had personal meeting and where I could be working in a purpose driven organization,
GB
Greg Boulos
4:27
and something of interest that you said, well, a lot of things of interest, but in particular, you said you were coaching attorneys. That's right, coaching what
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
4:35
I was working with attorneys, one on one, to help refine their business development skills and their marketing plans, so that they were driving their career where they wanted it to go, instead of waiting for it to be directed like I said, really. You know, failure to make a choice can be a choice, so helping the attorneys make the decisions earlier in their career so that they could have the most. Meaningful, successful practice possible. So helping them identify where their ideal clients were coming from, helping them develop a plan to get to where they wanted to be, helping them identify the right activities and not spin their wheels on things that weren't really going to have the traction that they needed.
GB
Greg Boulos
5:18
And were they receptive to that? Did they have to consult with you. Was that a requirement, or this was kind of a benefit? If they wanted to,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
5:25
it was a benefit they the firm helped to identify people who might be the right fit for a program like this, either because they were on the cusp of partnership and really looking to transition their efforts from delivering work to pursuing work. So they were really ready to to learn and eager to learn how to be a successful partner. Or maybe they were switching practices attorneys who had maybe been working in one area for a long time and looking to develop visibility in new areas would work with me. So it was it was voluntary, and it worked out really well, because everyone had a particular goal that meant something to them, so they were eager to to get there. And that was a pretty flirty, that was a pretty flirty.
GB
Greg Boulos
6:08
And is that common for the law firms in Portland to have a program like this? No,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
6:12
it was unique. I don't know of many or any firms in Maine that have that kind of an in house coaching role. It really stemmed from the pandemic changing gears, forcing the firm to change gears. I had originally been hired they'd created a position director of strategic partnerships, but partnerships rely on a lot of connection, networking, FaceTime, event attendance, and when everything's shut down, makes it hard to do those things, so I really redirected my energy into this coaching program that they asked me to to build.
GB
Greg Boulos
6:49
So you were on the board of the Center for grieving children for six years, that's right, before becoming director of the organization. How was that experience?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
6:59
It was fantastic. The center has a board that is incredibly engaged, very passionate, really skillful. It's a very well run organization, a really well run board. So it was good for that to be my first board experience, to really see sort of the ideal I've served on other boards as well, and I've been able to pull from that initial experience on the center for grieving children's board to help make me an effective board member for the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Maine women's lobby, Ed fund and other organizations where I've been on committees and things like that. So it was great. I I had started on the board because I was looking for a way to stay involved after no longer being a facilitator.
GB
Greg Boulos
7:44
So you said that there was really an involved board. So it wasn't the typical 80/20 principle where 20% of the board does 80% of the work. That's
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
7:53
right. No, I mean, when I was on the board, and to this day, every member brings skills and experience that are really important for us, and I think part of that has really been the result of intelligent and thoughtful board recruitment, not just going after someone who's a big donor, but going after people who really care about the work and the mission and really want to add value, not just kind of stroke a check, or, you know, attend some of the meetings. But really the the attendance is great, participation is great, and everyone brings their own skill set in a way that really elevates the work.
GB
Greg Boulos
8:33
Could you explain for our listeners who don't know what is the Center for grieving children all about, and who would utilize your services?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
8:40
The Center for grieving children is an organization that provides volunteer led, age based peer groups for kids, teens, tweens, adults who are navigating grief, whether that grief is because of the death of someone close to them, or whether that grief is due to a life altering illness, or whether that grief is after relocating to this country seeking safety from places where they are being persecuted, or there's war and violence, or other needs to to come to this country, the loss is profound, and it can if unresolved. We know that grief really interferes with healthy growth, it interferes with mental health, physical health, emotional, social health, and once grief is processed, people are then free to continue on being their best selves and leading their best lives. Grief is a natural reaction to loss, so it isn't always something that requires clinical intervention or medical intervention, although sometimes those are really important and can be indicated for many people, grief is something that simply needs to be worked through in community with other people through communication. So we provide these peer groups. For people to come in and build community and find solace and process their grief in a way that helps them move on.
GB
Greg Boulos
10:08
Now, is this free service or do people pay? Our
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
10:12
services are free for as long as people need them. We have families. We have kids, we have adults who have been coming to us for many years. We never charge we don't bill insurance. It reduces a lot of the paperwork for people. It makes it a very low threshold way of getting support during a really difficult time. So we provide services during the evenings, when people tend to have more available time. We provide services four days a week. We have online groups. So for people who can't come to our Portland or Sanford location, we're able to serve them online. So if
GB
Greg Boulos
10:47
you don't charge for your services, how do you keep the doors open? Where does the funding come from?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
10:53
The majority of our money is from individual donors, from people in the community who care about what we do, either who have benefited from our services, or know somebody who has who understand the need for what we provide and care about helping kids through these adverse childhood experiences. So a lot of our fundraising is from individual donors. We do receive some grants from foundations. We apply for grant money. We have a large number of very loyal, wonderful corporate partners who support us year over year through sponsorships, mostly, but a year over year corporate partnership is something that we really tailor for each company so that they are getting the most out of it, whether their interest is in participating in events, whether their interest is in sort of having their name over a particular initiative. We have lots of different ways that companies and individuals can support us, different initiatives, different programs and different activities.
GB
Greg Boulos
11:59
Tell us about the volcano room.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
12:02
I am happy to the volcano room is one of the most loved parts of our program, the volcano room in Sanford, we call it the weather room. But in Portland, we have a volcano room, and it is a room where there is padding and mats and cushions and pillows, where kids can express their feelings physically soundproof. It is mostly soundproof so it does not interfere with the other groups going on when there is screaming and yelling and jumping and shouting. The kids go in there and there are two facilitators, just like in every other group, every other room, we have two trained facilitators who know how to guide and assist the expression of feelings. And in the volcano room, that expression happens very physically. These kids sometimes have been really holding it all together all day in school, at home, and the volcano room is a place where they are free to do whatever they need to do, to express and get those feelings out so that they can be addressed and they can be processed. But also, the volcano room can be also a really quiet, peaceful place. They can use sensory swing. They can just lay down on the mats. They can turn on the Galaxy lights and just have a few minutes of peace and quiet if the rest of their life is feeling really chaotic. So it just really allows a more physical expression of feeling, so that they can then return to their group, their peer group, and continue with the work that's being done in that room with two other facilitators who are helping guide their peers
GB
Greg Boulos
13:40
when you're late at night or on the weekend, when you're in there by yourself. Do you ever go into the volcano room and scream?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
13:46
I can't share that, okay, I
GB
Greg Boulos
13:50
was thinking we ought to have one at the Boulos company.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
13:52
Everybody lose a deal.
GB
Greg Boulos
13:53
You go into the room, you start screaming. Everybody
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
13:55
should have a volcano room. It's pretty amazing when you see the work that happens in there. It really, it's, it's incredible
GB
Greg Boulos
14:04
regarding your facility. Many years ago, when Ann herolds was the executive director, she retained the bullish company to locate a facility for the Center in Portland. We were able to find a two story office building with parking at 555, forest Avenue. What's interesting to me about this is the center decided to buy the building and not lease it. I'd encourage, and I had encouraged Ann to consider this option. I understand the mortgage was paid off on this building a few years ago, and you now own the building free and clear. Is that correct?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
14:36
That's right. We had a capital campaign where we raised the funds to purchase the building, and it has been a great model for us. 555, forest has been our home for many years now, and having that asset under our name is incredibly helpful. Not worrying about our lease ending or having to renegotiate leases year over year has really alleviated. A lot of stress and financial pressure for us, it
GB
Greg Boulos
15:02
also allows for more funds to go into your programs. Absolutely, absolutely,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
15:06
more of the funding goes directly into the program.
GB
Greg Boulos
15:09
Do you know who the original occupant of that building was? I've
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
15:11
been told it was an insurance company, although I'm not sure I believe it was
GB
Greg Boulos
15:15
IBM okay, but I could be wrong.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
15:20
No, that sounds right. I have heard that as well.
GB
Greg Boulos
15:24
What implications for the Center for grieving are there in owning a building without any rental obligation or debt and no real estate taxes, because you're a nonprofit, so you not only save on no debt service, no rent, but because you own the building as a nonprofit, you don't have to pay real estate taxes.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
15:41
That's right, and we're hoping that the City of Portland keeps it that
GB
Greg Boulos
15:44
way. Is there talk about changing that? There has
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
15:47
been talk of, yeah, of collecting taxes. There an optional payment of tax for certain nonprofits who own property above a certain threshold, still in the works, and we're trying to find out more information, but I'm really hopeful that nonprofits are allowed to continue to provide their services without that added burden.
GB
Greg Boulos
16:07
So a lot of nonprofit, I shouldn't say a lot, but some of them, I know Mercy Hospital, because they used to be on that board, they pay a tax in lieu of and they pay a minimal tax to take care of such services as for the fire department. That's right, yeah, things of that nature. That's usually a negotiated amount. And I don't think the nonprofits have to do it, but they do it out of the sense of goodwill, particularly like the hospitals,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
16:32
right and right now, that's what the conversation, as I understand it, that's being had at City Hall is, whether or not to encourage, I guess, this optional tax for city services, things like that, that nonprofits use, unfortunately, it means that a lot of nonprofits will really financially struggle, even though it's optional. I don't know how long. How long does optional last and is optional, sort of, you know, is it just sort of a nice way of saying, Do this or else, do this or else. So we don't know yet. We're still working with the chamber and the main association of nonprofits and the city and finding out as much as we can so that we can have a better handle on how this may affect us long term and other nonprofits that would be even more vulnerable than we are, I think, like I said, there's a there's a value, property value threshold. So some will be unaffected. Others will be very affected.
GB
Greg Boulos
17:36
You mentioned you have a location in Sanford. What do you do down there? Same thing, same
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
17:41
thing. Yeah, we have a bereavement night once a week. We use space. We rent space air. We don't own our site in Sanford, and we provide one night of service for families in that area.
GB
Greg Boulos
17:54
And you have something called not a volcano room, but the weather room. Why the change her name.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
18:01
Well, the Sanford space was creating something a little different. It's not a built in room like our volcano room, and they decided that they would call it the weather room, because the feelings that are expressed aren't always volcanic. Weather changes. Emotions change the way people need to get their feelings out the way kids use that space, physically changes week over week, and like the weather, sometimes it's a lot more peaceful, and sometimes it's not. I like that.
GB
Greg Boulos
18:34
Gretchen, since you now have two locations, are there plans to expand to other cities?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
18:39
It's a great question. We would love to be able to expand. We know that the need for these kinds of services is everywhere. Grief doesn't discriminate. Grief affects people across our state, and in fact, in some of the more rural counties, the numbers, the childhood bereavement numbers are even more upsetting, where one in 10 children, and in some counties, you know, in Cumberland County, one in 11, but in other counties, one in 10 kids will experience the death of a parent or a sibling by the time they reach 18. That's a lot of grief. That's a lot of kids and families who need our services. I would love to be able to expand, but it really relies on space and volunteers. Our need for volunteers is probably our most pressing need and probably the biggest barrier to our ability to grow. So this is not
GB
Greg Boulos
19:36
part of a national chain or or group of Center for grieving children. This is unique to me.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
19:42
This one is unique. The the Center for grieving children was the third children childhood grief center in the country. There are other grief centers in other states, in other places, but they are all connected through a national alliance. They're all separately run. Operated. They're all free standing organizations, but we all share ideas and resources and continuing education through the National Alliance,
GB
Greg Boulos
20:11
which makes a lot of sense. South Point High School is where I went about a million years ago, and I believe over the last year, they had something like three suicides, of students, students who committed suicide, which is just terrible. I can't imagine the families affected by that, but I think the Center for grieving children went over there to help.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
20:35
We do a lot of outreach, yes, so not only do we provide the nights of service at our our center, but we also do a huge amount of community outreach and education. So whether that is at the request of a school because of the death of a student or a teacher to provide resources and support, or whether that is a community after a high impact loss or incident has happened. We responded to Lewiston after the shootings to help the Maine Resiliency Center as they were getting their legs under them and getting off the ground to provide on site support for survivors and families of victims in Lewiston, we do a large number of educational outreach, where maybe it's not in response to something specific, but just helping institutions, employers and other organizations, be prepared and how to handle different experiences, whether that's a death of an employee or whether it's just being prepared, and how to be better listeners, how to be more empathic, how to set up policies that are more grief sensitive. So
GB
Greg Boulos
21:51
when there isn't a crisis, which seems there's always a crisis, but when there isn't a major crisis that you're involved with, what do you do there at the Center for Green Children
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
22:02
when there isn't a crisis? Say? So we may get called in, for example, by a workplace looking to support their employees on a regular basis, not in response to anything in particular, but just to have guidance on utilizing the peer support model, because we know that the peer support model really helps reduce burnout among employees in high burnout settings. So setting up a model where employees can connect and listen and use those same reflective listening skills that we use on bereavement nights to help support one another through difficult situations and difficult jobs. So we get called in for those kinds of things. We get called in just to do educational opportunities, sort of seminar and conference talks, panel discussions, things like that. You
GB
Greg Boulos
22:55
mentioned reflective listening. Is that? What it's called? What is that? Give me an example, please.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
23:00
Reflective listening is when you absorb what someone is saying and reflect back what you're hearing without judgment. So it validates and it allows them to explain, if needed, or it allows them to express further what they're what they're thinking, but it's a way that doesn't impose any judgment or any expectations. There's no we don't expect people to follow one trajectory or one path. We say trust the process grief finds its own, its own journey. You know, like water, through, through, through, through earth. You know it. It's unpredictable, and the path that finds is not for us to determine. It finds its way so it reflective. Listening is a tool that allows people to feel heard and understood without any expectation of having to share more, without any expectation of the journey, having to go to some next step.
GB
Greg Boulos
24:01
So you probably don't use terms like you shouldn't feel like that Exactly,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
24:06
exactly, exactly. In fact, November is childhood grief Awareness Month, so the timing of this is perfect, and the National, National Alliance of children's grief centers has put together kind of a publicity map, and they call it flip the script. And they've put out a lot of information, and we've been using it. We've been sharing it, sharing it on our social channels. Flip the script is basically, you know, instead of saying you must be so sad, you can try something like, I don't know how you feel, but I'm here to listen, instead of saying something like, Well, I'm sure they're in a better place. Now, just instead of saying that, you could flip the script and say, I'm sure you really miss them. Or, you know, I'm not sure how you're feeling, but I'd like to hear more. Or I. Uh, you know, just There are any number of ways of not imposing your own experience and your own emotion onto someone else, because you don't know what that experience is like for them. And grief takes as long as it takes. It can take weeks, months, years, numbers of years. So just helping, helping remind people that the language we use really matters, and how we ask questions and how we show people support is really important.
GB
Greg Boulos
25:31
Well, you've only been the executive director for a few months at the Center for grieving children. As we mentioned earlier, you were on the board for six years. In that entire time, was there any one particular crisis that stood out or stands out to you in your mind? Or are
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
25:50
they all, anytime we have a crisis, anytime there is a community event that requires our outreach, it stays with me, but I think what I remember most was when I was actually a facilitator. I began originally as a volunteer, and I was working with a group of kids who were in the tween room, so kids who were between the ages of 10 and 13 about and there was one individual who participated for years and didn't say a word. And, you know, maybe three years after I had been facilitating in in a room with this, this kiddo, finally they started talking and they started participating, and they started engaging with the other kids. And instead of just sitting on the couch, instead of just burying themselves and in their, you know, sweatshirt and blanket, and to me, that was just a really amazing example of how patience and non judgmental acceptance is is really a magical way of helping Another person find their way through grief and along that journey.
GB
Greg Boulos
27:05
What's your vision for the Center for grieving children over the next, say, five to 10 years?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
27:10
My vision is that the Center for grieving children is available to people throughout the state that we are understood to be a trusted resource for individuals throughout the community, throughout the state, accessible to anyone who is grieving, who needs support, that our model is replicated and used throughout our community by other organizations providing similar support, and that our team is called upon as a resource when needed, that we are brought into communities and organizations and companies wherever we can provide support, so that nobody grieves alone
GB
Greg Boulos
27:53
and when there's a crisis. Just going back to the high school example, who typically calls you? I mean, do you reach out to the high school? Does the principal call you or the guidance counselor? Sir.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
28:04
Fortunately, we have really wonderful working relationships with so many schools in our community, the counselors, the superintendents, the principals. More often than not, it's a counselor or a teacher who calls us seeking support. Unfortunately, the rates of suicide in the state are bringing more and more people to our doors. I guess if you know, we look at the numbers, even as suicide rates maybe plateau or decline, the number of people seeking us out is increasing. So I take that as a good sign that actually people are pursuing support on an increasing basis. We're seeing an increase in numbers in our participants due to death by suicide, death through substance use. So the fact that people are coming to us seeking support during these really complicated grief journeys is is a sign that people are more comfortable talking about their feelings and their grief. And so I find it to be hopeful amid sort of a sad case, a sad set of circumstances,
GB
Greg Boulos
29:11
yes, less taboo now than it was, say, 2030, years ago, to talk about your feelings. Absolutely. Is there anything the state of Maine could be doing to help you, or city of Portland, or because you don't receive funding from them, because it not even entered the well,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
29:27
you know, there are ways that I think support can be given that don't involve the funding part. Yeah, we don't receive, really state or federal funds, other than some of the relief funds we got from the through the pandemic, which helped us keep our doors open and helped us set up our virtual programming, which helped us continue to provide services when people couldn't meet in person, which was really, really important, but I think just continuing to support the organizations that. Provide mental health and wellness. I think volume is is our challenge, because people are unable to get support elsewhere, and because we're free and because we're available to people for as long as they need us, the there is we're starting to get a wait list for how many people we can provide services to and I think that if there were more services readily available through other mental health providers, the resources that could go to other organizations as well would really help. I think those are ways that the state and local, state and federal government can help organizations like the Center for grieving children by making sure that the other support networks remain in place.
GB
Greg Boulos
30:46
And how many employees versus how many volunteers do you have?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
30:52
We have 14 employees, and we have more than 200 volunteers who are facilitating groups helping us in the office the most. The majority of our volunteers are facilitators. They've gone through our 30 hour volunteer training so that they can co facilitate our bereavement and our grief groups and yeah, then we also have people come in and help with projects, so maybe smaller kind of project based efforts like planting bulbs or painting rooms or organizing closets and things like that that really just help us day to day and are invaluable.
GB
Greg Boulos
31:31
How do you you know, with so many volunteers, how do you screen them to make sure that the right fit for the center? It seems to me, you could do a lot of damage to a kid if you got the wrong counselor. For example, if you got me in there, you can ruin a kid. Almost
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
31:45
anybody can be trained Greg, almost anybody. So we do ask people to participate in the facilitator training. It is a really thorough training where people are asked to share of themselves. It's not just a book course. You really do have to actively participate. You have to be open and vulnerable in this training. And that is an opportunity for us to assess how ready that person is to take on the responsibility of group facilitation. It's a two direction training where we are teaching them, but we're also observing and we're learning from that individual. You know, their readiness to take this on, and their their ability to really understand the model and live the model of reflective, listening, non judgmental empathy. And so we do it like I said, it's a 30 hour training. There are two days in person, and the rest is virtual. And during that time, we find out how, how people are doing. I thought that the training, when I went through it, I thought it was amazing. It was almost like going through counseling myself, because you start to realize you have your own we all carry around our own unprocessed grief. And so this is a chance to really identify that and and look at it and examine how, how you can maybe work to resolve it a little bit more thoroughly. So we assign people to a night of service based on a matching where the need is and where their interests are. And we have a sub list so that if people need to take a night off, they can and a sub is able to then step in and be on our sub list is a great way of, kind of trying out different groups to see where you really find a fit and what you love to do most. And so we really hope that our volunteer training program is something that is really as rewarding as it is useful for us. So we have volunteers. We ask people to give a year, but often they stay for many, many, many years. We have some volunteers who have been with us for 20 years or more. I'm
GB
Greg Boulos
33:46
sure it's very gratifying helping people. It's
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
33:49
it really, it really is, and the community that's formed within the volunteer groups is powerful as well. I began volunteering because I missed working with kids. I'd worked with kids in Massachusetts, and when I moved to Maine, I was sort of missing that part of my life. I was missing that kind of purpose driven work, like I mentioned, and I also was seeking community. And when someone suggested to center for grieving children, I had very little idea of what it was all about. I went through the training, and was incredibly moved by that experience. And then I joined a native service, and I found a group of friends and community that I have not experienced anywhere else in my life, and in fact, I'm still very close with some of the people I met through that, through facilitating together, who
GB
Greg Boulos
34:31
started the Center for grieving children. And was it born out of a crisis, or somebody just said, Hey, listen, I think this would be a good idea. I'm
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
34:39
glad you asked. It's a story that we honor a lot. Bill hemmons was a Mainer, and his sister died young, leaving a young daughter, and when Bill was looking around for services and support for his niece, he couldn't find anything that really suited her. And you know, he saw her struggling with this. Grief, and yet he knew that grief was natural and grief was a perfectly normal response to the kind of loss she had endured. So he looked around and he examined what was being done elsewhere, and he found a model in Portland, Oregon called the Dougie center, and they were the first children's grief organization. And he used that model, that training, and many elements of that persist to this day. There's been an evolution and a growth based on what we learn and what we know over time and and how how much more we learn about grief and how our environment changes. But he used that as the model to set up the center in 1987 and some of the people who were around bill at the time are still involved through our advisory council. The first executive director is someone we still see and connect with, and some of the first early staff members are still involved in our trainings. And so it really is a very close knit, tight community around the center. And it began because of, you know when, when Bill's Sister Mary died, he knew his his niece needed support in
GB
Greg Boulos
36:05
other other organizations in Maine that do something similar,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
36:08
similar, but not the same. So there are organizations that will provide support groups, many of them are led by social workers or clinicians or therapists. So it's a slightly different model. Ours are really the only ones that are being led strictly by trained volunteer facilitators. There are other groups that are perhaps specific to the nature of an illness or nature of a death. There are support groups for families who have endured loss of a child, like bereaved parent groups. There are widow and widower groups out in the community. The community. There are groups around cancer diagnoses. So there are a lot of groups out there, although I think the Center for grieving children provides a unique model where every member of the family comes in. So it's not just a group for the kids, it's not just a group for the parents, it's a group for the whole family at the same time. So that they can carry home that work that they've done in these groups. They can, they can bring it home with them together.
GB
Greg Boulos
37:12
Gretchen, are there any upcoming events we should know about?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
37:16
We have our biggest fundraiser of the year, our love Gala, and that always occurs the first Friday in February. And so for next year, it will be Friday February 7, 2025 and it is at brick south, at Thompson's point. And it is a huge celebration and a joyful evening where we get together and we talk about our mission, and we have an auction, and it is just a really beautiful evening. If anyone has attended before, make sure to ask them about it. If you don't know who's attended, they'll they'll tell you all about it. Big fundraiser, I assume it is, it is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. You had asked us about where the money comes from before. And in addition to our individual donors and our corporate partners and our grants, we do have a couple of events throughout the year. We have a golf tournament, we have our love Gala. We have a number of smaller local events as well, but the love gal is really our big one. We also have a volunteer training coming up in January, and that will be completely online so you don't have to worry about driving around in January in Maine. So it's a virtual training to become a facilitator. So if people are listening and they want to find out more, they can contact us. They can talk to our volunteer coordinator. We do a one on one meeting, just to make sure all questions are answered before people sign up for the training. And then, didn't you participate and see, see
GB
Greg Boulos
38:34
what you think. And who should they reach out to?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
38:36
They should reach out to our volunteer coordinator, Kristin lash, and the best way to do that is through our website, cgcmain.org,
GB
Greg Boulos
38:45
just wrapping it up here. Gretchen, you're a fairly young person. Do you have a long term plan for your life, and do you have any idea how long you might stay at the Center for grieving children?
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
38:58
Oh, I can't imagine ever going anywhere else. I think I'll be at the center for a very long time. I feel like this role at the center is the culmination of everything I've done career wise, everything I've pursued interest wise, and everything I've learned education wise. So it really is sort of the nexus of all parts of myself. And I get to work with an amazing team of people that I genuinely care about. So I can't imagine pursuing anything else. So I think I'll stay at the Center for quite a while, as long as they'll have me. But long term, I I'm happy here in Maine. I love it here. I think the lifestyle suits me. And, you know, my goal is to be able to work until I can retire and then enjoy that.
GB
Greg Boulos
39:46
So it sounds like you're in the right place at the right time.
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
39:49
I feel like I am.
GB
Greg Boulos
39:50
Thank you Gretchen,
GJ
Gretchen Johnson
39:51
thank you Greg
GB
Greg Boulos
39:53
Gretchen, thank you for being our guest today on the Boulos Beat, a Boulos company podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. You can learn more about the Center for grieving children at the company's website, which is www.cgcmaine.org on Facebook and Instagram, @CGC Maine and on LinkedIn, at the Center for grieving children.
And if you'd like to learn more about the Boulos company, please be sure to visit us at Boulos.com you can also find us @the Boulos company on Facebook and LinkedIn and @theBoulosCO on Instagram and X and lastly, if you want to know the secret to owning real estate, it's pretty simple, just be sure to outlive your debt.