Arms of Angels wants to expand their grief counseling services to more and diverse populations.

The death of a family member is difficult enough to bear as an adult, but for children, the grieving process can be much more difficult to navigate.

Melissa (who asked we only use her first name) experienced this firsthand when her husband died, leaving her with their 2-and-a-half year old daughter. Three months after losing her father, the girl began acting out. She would scream and hit and kick. Melissa was also suppressing her own grief, an emotional weight she describes as heavy.

That changed when she met Leigh Susan Fitz, founder of Arms of Angels.

Fitz also has a daughter, Madison, who lost a father in 2006. Then living in Pennsylvania, Leigh and Madison together went through counseling at a children’s grief and loss center called Olivia’s House. Fitz credits the center with allowing her daughter to move through her grief; she’s now a successful college senior.

After moving to Monterey in 2007, Fitz wanted to create a nonprofit grief counseling center here. “It was the only thing that I felt called to do,” she says. Her center would offer something new – counseling that treats the whole family together in private sessions.

Arms of Angels opened in 2012, first offering in-house counseling and later adding referrals to independent therapists who have contracts with the nonprofit. Fitz takes one family at a time to ensure they have privacy and personalized attention, all at no charge.

Fitz says counselors help children express emotions in any way that works for them, whether it’s “writing in a journal, punching a pillow, or howling at the moon.” There are no age limits – children as young as 4 or as old as 18 have been through the program.

Melissa’s counselor connected with her by text message before starting therapy, and checked in with her between sessions. If Melissa was having a bad day, her counselor was there to discuss it.

“I found it extremely heartwarming that she was so accessible,” Melissa says.

Melissa’s hopes to bring her daughter, now 5, to Arms of Angels soon. Both of them are in a better place emotionally.

Fitz wants to expand Arms of Angels’s reach by opening a new center in Salinas accessible via public transportation and hiring more counselors, including Spanish speakers.

“We are still small, but wanting to work our way up,” Fitz says. “I was told, ‘If you focus on it, it will come,’ and so far that’s been true.”

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