Lost & Found Grief Center Commemorates 25th Anniversary
SPRINGFIELD, MO — The year 2000 marked a significant change for society as people looked forward to the dawn of the new century and millennium. That year was also an important milestone for grieving families and individuals in southwest Missouri. In 2000, Lost & Found Grief Center became the first organization in southwest Missouri to provide no-cost, professional therapeutic grief support to children and their families.
In 2025, Lost & Found Grief Center commemorates 25 years of providing help, hope, and healing to bereaved children, families, and adults through therapeutic grief support groups.
“We started Lost & Found because there is such a tremendous need,” said Dr. Karen Scott, co-founder and former executive director. “Most families who experience a death do not have the funds to pay for counseling. Lost & Found was a way to provide a much-needed service at no cost to families.”
Founded by Scott, a former school counselor, and local attorney Shawn Askinosie, Lost & Found held its first group sessions in Askinosie’s Springfield law offices. The need for grief therapy grew, and by 2006, Lost & Found moved to the Conor House, named after Conor Foster, who died at the age of 4. In the Conor House, Lost & Found expanded its offerings to include adults, not just children and their families. In 2015, Lost & Found continued to grow when it moved to its current location at 1555 South Glenstone Avenue.
Lost & Found started with a group for children and a group for their parents. Those first two groups had fewer than 20 people in total. Over a quarter-century, the number of people Lost & Found served through groups, individual counseling, grief education, and other services is well over 25,000.
Lost & Found provides bereaved people the opportunity to grieve in a supportive, understanding, and non-judgmental environment and is guided by the following principles:
- Grief is a natural reaction to death for adults, as well as children.
- Within each individual is the natural capacity to heal oneself.
- The duration and intensity of grief are unique for each person.
- Caring and acceptance assist in the healing process.
“Lost & Found employs a forward-moving model of grief,” said Melanie Blair, Lost & Found assistant executive director. “Rather than viewing grief as something to ‘get over,’ we approach grief as a process, where the goal is to move forward and live a meaningful life.”
In addition to no-cost therapeutic grief support groups, Lost & Found also offers fee-based individual counseling.
Contact: Mark Miller, Lost & Found Grief Center, Executive Director, (417) 839-2886, mmiller@lostandfoundozarks.com
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About Lost & Found Grief Center: Founded in 2000, the Lost & Found Grief Center strives to improve lives in the community by providing help, hope, and healing through professional grief support services. The Lost & Found Grief Center works with those who are suffering to provide education and support as they face life without their deceased loved one.
