OUR ROOTS…

Kimberly Calderwood, PhD, RSW, University Professor

Colleen Campo, CYW, Bereavement Professional

Danielle Campo McLeod, Ont. BSW, CYW

Germain and Christine Gaudet

Carl Hooper, CPA, CA

Patti Kelly, Victim Assistance Specialist

Christine M. MacMillan, BSW, MSW, RSW, Bereavement Professional

Brian Parent, Funeral Director

Julien’s House was initially conceptualized by Colleen Campo and Christine MacMillan, professionals with many years of bereavement counselling and education experience in Windsor-Essex County with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). They identified a gap in services for the bereaved after attending training at the Coping Centre in Cambridge, ON. The Coping Centre offered support to the bereaved, as well as training to professionals in a supportive, non-judgmental environment where grief was embraced and nurtured. After this experience, Colleen and Christine began to envision a similar place of support for the Windsor area; they soon began searching for the ideal location for a ‘Windsor-Essex County Coping Centre’.

Not long after this, Germain and Christine Gaudet whose 18-year-old son, Julien died as a result of a traumatic brain injury suffered in an automobile related accident and who were clients of the Bereavement Program at the CMHA and later as volunteers in the program, attended some training at the Coping Centre. The Gaudets came away from their training not only more informed, but also began considering a property they owned as a possible place to comfort and support the bereaved. They approached Colleen and Christine with their idea and Julien’s House was born with the vision of a house of support to the bereaved. Julien’s House is adeptly named in honour of Julien’s first home. Currently, the JGH Board is looking at attaining this space as the future home of a bereavement centre where grief education is offered, and a grief experience is supported and embraced in a nurturing environment.