Sessions begin at 6:30 pm and end at 8 pm.  If you are new, please text Jon at (541) 612-0828. We would like you to come early to your first session so that we can give you and your family a tour of the facility.  

At Cason’s Place, groups meet twice a month following the school year calendar.

We also hold a concurrent support group for the adult caregivers/parents of the children that are attending. Groups are coordinated by trained facilitators.

The Center’s objective is to provide the caring, accepting environment that greatly enriches the healing process.  Cason’s Place is a safe place for children and their families to cope with the death of a loved one and share their grief with others who have had a comparable loss. Grief resolution involves achievement of the following tasks for both children and adults:

• Accepting the reality of the loss.
• Experiencing the pain of grief.
• Adjusting to an environment in which the deceased is missing.
• Withdrawing emotional energy and investing in new life goals.

According to the Children’s Grief Education Association, grief and trauma can be a detriment to learning. Often, when the processing ability of the brain is filled with thoughts of the deceased and the necessity of managing intense emotions, little room is left for concentrating on academic demands and other memory tasks. Kids report that they feel different than the other kids at school because of their loss.

Cason’s Place program is based on the premise of providing a safe place for kids, teens and their caregivers to share their experience of grief in a positive, supportive environment. Children are with other kids their age that have experienced a death, interacting together in activities that support expression of feelings and emotions that increase their understanding of death, loss and the process of grief, and decrease feelings of isolation associated with grief, increasing their social, emotional and academic development. This is a family focused program with the belief that to truly assist the children and teens in their process of grief, we need to engage the family/caregivers in a supportive way to build healthier coping, communication and connections for the whole family.

Our History

In 2007, the Terjeson family began attending the Dougy Center in Portland Oregon and felt immediate healing while attending the peer teen and adult groups.  Upon sharing their story with friend, Melissa Nitz , she attended the Dougy Center’s International Training Program in 2008. Her training was put to use after the death of a Helix community member in 2008.

In 2016, the two families  put their efforts together with a grassroots effort to create a bonafide center to service children and teens of Eastern Oregon.  Their first meeting was Sept 24, 2016 with 10 interested community members from Hermiston and Pendleton attending.

Terjeson’s Story:  Lydia was an 8th grader when her brother, Cason died in an agricultural accident.  She missed her brother and  her parents were sad all the time.  Lydia was trying her best to keep her family together.  Healing and processing grief takes so much work;  she felt different that her classmates.  One afternoon she and here mother, Jan  were  “kidnapped” and taken to the Dougy Center in Portland.  Their family chose to attend sessions twice a week for 1.5 hours.  The commitment to drive 1 hour each way and attend sessions was so worth while.  The group sessions for teens allowed Lydia to feel a new normal, talk about her feelings with teens “who get it”.  Lydia’s parents learned from other parents and friendships were created. The Dougy Center is a unique and special place.

With the help of key volunteers, Cason’s Place established a 501c3 organization as of Dec 7, 2016.

The volunteer facilitators will participate in a  training.

March 1, 2017, CHI St Anthony Hospital gifted Cason’s Place 2 buildings.  The buildings will hold peer group sessions for children, teens and parents/guardians.