The founders of Papillon Center for Loss & Transition, Joy Smith RN MSN and Helen Grady, MFT shared a deep understanding about grief ... how painful it is and how underserved grieving people are. Grievers are provided three days of bereavement leave and expected to move on. Children’s grief often isn’t recognized as having a lifelong effect on kids as they grow up.

 

Joy and Helen’s path to Papillon came from different directions. Joy is an oncology and palliative care Registered Nurse who sees and cares for the loss and grief that she witnesses daily in her work. Helen, a Marriage and Family Therapist, experienced deep grief when her husband, Jerry, died in 2011. Despite her professional training, she, too, felt the lack of comprehensive resources.

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So, in 2013, Joy and Helen created Papillon Center for Loss & Transition to provide bereavement care that is professionally led for all ages, at any time in one’s experience, and to give a voice to unspoken loss (our pets, miscarriage, stillbirth, survivors of overdose & violence).

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In 2020, Papillon merged with Coastal Kids Home Care through the Monterey County wide Heal Together program to continue to offer services through the pandemic.  

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Papillon Center for Loss & Transition is now expanding on its early history, the legacy of  the Heal Together initiative, and the unwavering support of Coastal Kids Home Care to build a grief literate community with diverse programming for all ... no matter one’s age or loss.

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We invite you to join us.

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