Why Our Work Matters

Creating Change Before Patterns Become Legacies

A Pathway From Grief helps individuals and families look beyond what is happening to better understand what may be influencing it.

From the earliest stages of life, we begin learning from our experiences, what we are taught, what we observe, and the words spoken to and around us. What we learn can shape how we communicate, build relationships, respond to conflict, make decisions, and eventually how we parent our children.

Some of what we learn serves us well and deserves to be carried forward. Other beliefs, behaviors, and responses may continue simply because they have become familiar—not because we intentionally chose them.

Understanding where a pattern may have come from does not assign blame. It creates an opportunity to decide whether that pattern should continue.

THE PERSON BEHIND THE PARENT

48 %

OF PARENTS

say that most days their stress is completely overwhelming.

Source: U.S. Surgeon General, Parents Under Pressure (2024)

Parents bring their own life experiences into parenting while also navigating the responsibilities and challenges of everyday life.

Parents were once children, too. From infancy, they began learning from the words spoken to and around them, what they were taught, what they observed, and what they experienced. Some of what they learned may still be reflected in how they communicate, respond to challenges, make decisions, establish boundaries, and parent their children today.

It is important to consider the whole person behind the role of parent.

WHAT CHILDREN SEE, HEAR, & LEARN

Just as parents began learning as infants, their children, too, are learning about themselves and the world around them—often before they can fully understand or make sense of what they see, hear, and experience.

The words spoken to them, the interactions they witness, and the ways adults respond to stress, relationships, discipline, disagreement, and conflict can shape how children see themselves, how they view others, and what they believe is normal.

This includes the way children are disciplined. When correction involves physical force, threats, intimidation, humiliation, or harmful and degrading words, we refer to this as violence-based discipline. A parent's intention may be to correct a behavior, while the way the correction is given may also shape what a child learns about communication, power, relationships, and how to respond to conflict.

LEARNING BEYOND THE HOME

As children grow, their world of influence grows with them. Their learning extends beyond the people and surroundings within their homes. Peers, schools, neighborhoods, social media, and experiences within their communities can also shape their beliefs, choices, and responses.

Over time, what they choose to accept, reject, imitate, or make part of their own behavior can be shaped by what they are exposed to both inside and outside the home.

37%

More than one-third of Chicago children were exposed to firearm violence.

The research included both indirect exposure, such as hearing gunshots or knowing someone who had been shot, and direct exposure, such as witnessing a shooting or being threatened with a firearm.

Source: Academic Pediatrics, “Childhood Exposure to Firearm Violence in Chicago and Its Impact on Mental Health” (2024).

A DIFFERENT LENS ON PREVENTION

A Pathway From Grief recognizes that prevention can begin while children are learning.

Through trauma-informed, non-clinical education and coaching, we help parents recognize learned behaviors, beliefs, communication, discipline, and responses that may be showing up within the home—and make intentional choices about what they model, teach, and pass on to their children.

Violence is complex and influenced by many factors. Our work addresses one part of the broader prevention picture by helping families make intentional changes within the home while children are still learning.