Mentoring program at Valerie’s House Naples helping people grieve

Reyna Zwanenburg and Ashley McNamara have a special place in their hearts for Valerie’s House in Naples.

“In 2018, my mom passed away,” said Zwanenburg. “I was 11 years old. She passed away from glioblastoma, multi-form, which is a very rare type of brain cancer.”

“My mom also died when I was 10 from the same type of cancer, glioblastoma,” McNamara said, “and that’s kind of one of the reasons that I felt that I would be a great mentor for Reyna. We were around the same age around the same time the year that our moms passed.”

She came in shy and guarded, but with the help of her friends at Valerie’s house, Zwanenburg has learned to share her grief with McNamara.

“Definitely, you know, growing older, also maturing kind of makes you realize that it happened in the past and you just get over it,” Zwanenburg said. “It’s a hard thing to get over, obviously, but, you know, finding someone that had something extremely in common with.”

Valerie’s House is a lifeline for many kids in the community, often teaching them how to deal with intense emotions surrounding their grief.

“It’s not like having a parent either. It’s like less than a parent but also a guardian, so it’s like you don’t have that awkwardness,” Zwanenburg said.

Families at Valerie’s House constantly feel the absence of their loved ones but say mentors like McNamara help fill the void.

“Someone that they can almost trust and feel that they can just say what’s on their mind,” McNamara explained, “and also have fun to going out, right? Going on shopping trips, you know, so someone that can be there, and someone they can actually overlay on, depend on.”

Valerie’s House encourages anyone that is looking to be a mentor not to hesitate.

They say you can always make time to be with someone and believe it’s an opportunity to learn and help the other person grow.