I'm here in Plymouth with Vicky Brown at the brandnew home of Dustin's place.

This is amazing.

I'm so happy to be here.

For anyonewatching who doesn't know what Dustin's places,this has been the journey for you to get to this pointand this is just phenomenal.

Can you tell me a little bitabout the background?

Because it obviously doeshave a tragic start, but you've turned itinto something now that is really helpinga lot of people.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We're so excitedthat you're here with us today.

Dustin's place was foundedin 2019, in honor of my late husband, Dustin Cullen,who died in a car accident on his way home from work.

We had three young kids, and it was throughthat understanding of my kids grief and my own griefthat there wasn't any place for kids and familiesto go after someone dies.

So we opened our peer to peergrief support groups here in Plymouth, Indiana.

And in the last five yearswe have just grown so greatly.

We've served over900 individuals in both our evening groupsas well as our school, grief support groups.

And, in two days,we're moving into our new home.

And so up until now,where have you been?

And and how have you been doing?

You've been in a shared spaceor what have you been?

Yeah.

So when we first opened,we were given, a space at a local churchhere in Plymouth, Plymouth Community Church, and they gaveus their space for no cost.

But we were limited onwhen we could have groups so we could only offer groupsin the evenings.

We couldn't do all the programingthat was being requested of us.

But it was no cost.

So it allowed us toreally get our feet set, in orderto have a permanent home here.

And tell me about the buildingwe're in right now, because and the missionof the owners of this building really fitswith your mission, too.

So.

Yes.

Yes.

So the owners, the life Flex, is the name of the buildingand the Life Flex owners, the family that is part of this,the Harlem family, they, heard our missionand immediately offered this spaceto us for a dollar.

And it's amazing.

It's amazing.

But their missionis to be stewards of those who are using God's giftsto support others.

And so this entire buildingis built on that concept.

Let's supportpeople in all areas of life, whether it'sphysical, emotional, whatever that need is, let'sbring it all into one roof.

And so it was a dollar,20 year lease that you have, but you did have to fundraise in order to be able to make itexactly the way you wanted it to be,which that was a big task that you undertook over the lastcouple of years as well.

So it wasit is a very generous gift.

It was incredible.

To receivethis building for a dollar.

But you're right,the renovations they cost said $750,000.

And the furniture,an additional $50,000.

So I'm like, you almost assquirm there as you were saying.

The number 700.

I know, because it's a big number,but actually imitating it is.

But for a building that's like,what, 6500 square, 60, 700ft²?

And for all of the servicesthat you're going to bring, that'sactually an incredible renovate.

Like that's not a big amountfor what you've turned it into.

Yes.

Yeah.

And actuallyit wasn't a couple of years.

It was six months.

Wow.

It took us six months to get the community support needed to financially walkinto this space debt free.

But as we know, as believers,that's a gift from God.

And so to be in a space with owners who believe inutilizing God's gifts, to have a community that also wants to supportthose who are doing his work, I mean, the communitysupported us six months.

We raised over $800,000 to be entering this building,completely debt free, to serve twice as manyfamilies as we've ever served.

And right now, as you see,there's no furniture in here because that's being deliveredin a few days and hopefully before it airs,we will be able to actually show you some photosor video of the pictures, but there is one thingthat I want you to show me.

And Anquan Constructionwas actually part of this.

Tell me a little bit aboutthe light fixtures over here, because I want to have a lookat these over here, and I want to look aroundbecause we're standing here.

But but tell me about this.

And what's the symbolic natureof these lights?

Yeah, these lights were, originally scheduled to bependant lights over the bar.

And, and construction architectfound these lights specifically for us.When he found them, he looked at themand he saw them.

They represent the grief story.Grief is messy.

So messy.

It's not a straightline.

It's not a linear paththat we can take.

It's a messy, storythat we have to live out.

And so when Matt van SOSand Ancon saw this, they said, you havethis has to go in your space.

We need these.

And so they donated themso that we can bring them into this space,which is our cafe space, but also our educational space.

So any time I do a grieftraining up front, I can say, and that is grief.

Yeah, grief is messy.

And that's what it looks like.

Yeah, it is messy, but it can also be a lightand it can be beautiful.

It can it can leadto great things.

Right?

Yes.

You use yoursto turn it into Dustin's place.

And and although it ismessy and, you know,we're friends on Facebook, sometimes it's very messy and sometimes it's, it'sobviously very upsetting.

But it can also be beautiful.Absolutely.

It has a way.

All right.

Well, we want to have a lookaround a little bit more.

I want to talk aboutsome of the specific rooms that you have as well and what they doand the different things and different waysof going about grief, because of course, two year olds don't want to talkabout their feelings, they want to drawand things like that.

So let's go and have a lookaround the rest of it.

So tell me a little bit aboutwhat this room is going to be.

Yeah.This is our grief sensory room.

So one of our things like you already mentioned, childrenexpress themselves differently.

And they need those spacesto express themselves, not to talk about it necessarilysome, but to express it.

So this is our sensory room.

This will be for those kiddoswho get overstimulated, who need a quiet space toto sit, to be with their grief, to listen to music.

We'll have colorful lights,a space to just be still.

And from here,we're going to the very opposite of what this is, which is a roomthat needs padded walls.

Yeah, which is probably the room that I need to go in for a whilehere.

So let's go to that one next.

So all right.

So we went from the sensory roominto the Dave room here you can probably hear the sound.

Got a little echoey.So it's a little extra noisy without all the furniturein here.

Yeah.

It'sokay but yeah you've got what.

So is this forjust high energy kids?

They can let out some steamand just, this is called the Volcano Roombecause sometimes our grief erupts.

Yes.Like a volcano.

Absolutely.

And we need a spaceto do that safely.

And so when the kids come inhere, we have some foam furniturebeing donated that they can buildcastles with.

They can throw it, they can jump into,we have a crash pad coming so they can justthrow their body down.

But the idea is,let's physically get that out so that it's not pent upinside of us.

Like even though this spacewas donated for a dollar, you still have a lotof operating costs that you're goingto have to fundraise every year.

What have you created?

One of those rooms where adultscan come in and like smash the what are theycalled, a rage room?

Great.

Hey, I mean,I feel like we have that.

Well, I mean, when it's notbeing used by kids, I feel like you could createa rage room for Dustin's place.

And all the funds for the ragego towards the like.

I'm just saying, I I've thoughtabout it myself as an office.

My office is down the hall,but like, how many days we're going to be herein the afternoon?

Well, I just think a lot of peoplewould avail of a rage room.

Okay, we need thisfor fighting for life.

Sometimes I'll check with my insurance companyand see where that goes.

All right.

Yeah, exactly.I never thought of that.

Of course, insurance alwayshas to ruin everything now.

All right,we're going to have a look at one of the creative rooms,the art room next here as well, which I'mhappy to see as well.

Awesome.

So this is, the art room?

Yes, this.

It'll be our art studiowhere we can get a little messy.

Yeah, I like it.

As you said, messy is the word.

Messy is the word for grief,you know?

And, I always think about whenwhen people say about, like, Dustin's place,what it is that you do, we can say it's no cost.

Grief support, peer to peer.

Well,I think what is really going on is children have an opportunity that their grief doesn'thave to define their future.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah.

So this is justhow you do it.

Yes.

But what's really going on is that children can grow upto have healthy relationships, that their whole lifeis not defined by their loss.

Yeah.

And that's not to say that everyoneto still be a huge part of it, but that is just not a mountainthat they can't get over.

Yes, exactly.

So that'swhat's really going on here.

You know, it's not art.

Yeah.

Art isjust a way to get exactly.

And then learning coping skills for all kinds of obstaclesthey may face in the future.

So they're learninghow to express themselves.

Yeah.

When times get hardin their life.

So when do your programstart back here.

When can people get involvedor is there a sign up?

Is there a to or how do peopleeven get in touch?

If somebody is watching and they do believe that theyneed to avail of your services, what's the process?

So we do all of ourregistrations via the phone.

Okay.

There is no waitlistsand there's no cost.

Group nights will start here in our new spaceon September 22nd.

And we meet every other Mondaynight.

And then follow uson social media, because one of the thingsthat we're really going to do is bring other opportunitiesto express grief.

So at the end of this month,we have a teen workshop for our writing workshopfor teenagers.

We'll have some suicideawareness events that are happening.

And so follow us on Facebook,Instagram, give us a call.

Get connected.

There's no cost for youto attend, but there is a cost.

So thank you for supportingDustin's place.

Thank you for everything thatyou're done for this I love.

You're like a firecracker.

I mean, you just like, want tobreak down walls and break down.

I just love it.

And I don't knowif that's a good analogy.

I don't know if a firecrackerhas ever broken down a wall, but I just,you know, to me, like, I've a two year old daughter, I would want her to look upto a woman like you who sees an opportunityand breaks down the barriers for peopleand just gets after it, and you just do itin such a nice way that you're such a nice person, but yet you're so ambitiousand I just find it to be.

I just love everythingabout how you operate.

So thank youso much for showing me around.

Thank you.

And thank you guys for comingback.

It's been a couple of yearsand it's great to see you again.

Oh, and I want her to look aftermy wife as well just in case you see this okay.

So I meanI look up to your wife, so.

Me too, which is standingover me wacking me.