Pathways Celebrates 40 Years with One-of-a-Kind Children’s Healing Garden

For the past 40 years, Pathways has served the northern Colorado community with unparalleled and compassionate care during life’s most difficult moments. Their dedicated team of medical professionals, social workers, therapists, chaplains and volunteers provide hospice care, palliative care and grief and loss bereavement support. As a nonprofit organization, Pathways doesn’t turn away anyone due to inability to pay.

Pathways’ legacy is truly endless in the northern Colorado community, with families of Pathways patients returning to support Pathways in many ways years after the passing of their loved ones. This milestone year was marked by another truly unique legacy that will impact local children for generations to come: The Children’s Healing Garden.

The Children’s Healing Garden is an innovative space located at Pathways’ Fort Collins location, 305 Carpenter Road, and was revealed to the public in October 2018 at a celebratory Grand Opening Celebration. The finished project includes numerous unique features, such as an oversized “bird’s nest” with an “eggs” seating area for one-on-one counseling, a memory garden, sand play area, steps for moving between tiers, a mandala area for art therapy and many more.

The Garden will serve as a safe space for hundred of children in the community who are experiencing grief or serious illness. It will be a place for counseling sessions, therapeutic reflection, memorial activities, and most importantly – helping children understand the life-death cycle by using nature as a metaphor.

“Many people forget that children experience grief,” said Tammy Brannen-Smith, Director of Grief and Loss. “It is so important to support them through these difficult times and provide them with outlets to express their feelings. The Garden will offer a safe, welcoming place where children can explore complex emotions in a natural environment.”

Plans for the Children’s Healing Garden were first announced at the end of 2016 with the launch of a $500,000 capital campaign to fund the project. Thanks to the generosity of numerous individuals and businesses, the campaign was completed in early 2018, and the Garden broke ground in spring 2018. The FronTerra Group led the architectural design of the Garden, and WaterWise Landscaping executed the landscaping.

Learn more about the Garden and the community it serves at pathways-care.org.