A Port St. Lucie woman is launching Chris's Place, a free in-person grief support community on the Treasure Coast designed to help people navigating loss.
Stacey Comer created the community after her husband Chris died in 2018 following complications from a kidney transplant. As she learned to navigate life without him, Comer began to notice there wasn't one central place on the Treasure Coast where people experiencing grief could go to find support, resources and connection. She started asking herself a simple question: "Why isn't there an entity where all of this lives under?" That question became the foundation for Chris's Place.
Comer said grief can be difficult to understand until you experience it yourself. While friends and family often want to help, people who are grieving can still feel isolated. "You only sort of know it if you're in the club, and when you're in the club everyone wants to be so supportive and helpful," Comer said. Chris's Place is intended to give people a place to connect with others who understand what they're going through.
The community is not limited to people who have lost a spouse or immediate family member. Comer wants it to be available to anyone who has experienced a loss and needs support navigating what comes next. Right now, Comer is creating Chris's Place from the ground up.
Her long-term vision is to create a physical space on the Treasure Coast where people can gather, find resources and connect with others who understand grief. "You are not alone. You feel alone because you think you're the only one feeling it, but you're not," Comer said. She wants other people on the Treasure Coast to have the kind of support she realized was missing during her own journey through grief.