In 1989, Kath McCormack’s  husband Rick Deggelman died suddenly at the age of 33. Her children, Ricky and Barbara, were 3 and 5 at the time. They lived in the Bay Area, where the family attended support groups at The Center for Attitudinal Healing in Tiburon. Kath felt that those groups and the counselor she saw at the time saved her life. 

Two years later, Kath, Ricky, and Barbara moved to Seattle. Kath searched for a place where she could connect with other young widows; a place that her family could return to again and again as they learned how to navigate their new life. She met three other people who had been widowed young; Joel Junker, Katie Evans, and Barbara Hendricks. Together, they started support groups, officially known as Widowed Young Persons Support. 

Kath continued to envision a cozy home where families could come to get support for different kinds of loss and stages of grief. In September of 2000, The Healing Center became a non-profit organization with 501 (c)(3) status. For five years, The Healing Center offered support groups in Kath’s apartment, church basements, and other borrowed spaces. In December of 2005, The Healing Center was able to rent a home in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle. At long last, all of our programs were under one roof.

Since The Healing Center was founded, our goal has been to support children, adults, and families so they don’t feel alone. We help provide resources, support and an open dialogue that destigmatizes death and normalizes one’s feelings of grief and loss. Our community understands that grief isn’t linear, nor does it follow a clock. Therefore our doors are open to those who need support at any or all stages of their grief journey. Our hope is that each person who experiences The Healing Center will come to a place of peace and find new meaning as they reinvest in life.