FORT COLLINS – Local nonprofit Pathways on Tuesday announced plans to build a $500,000 Children’s Healing Garden at the organization’s counseling center, 305 Carpenter Road.

Pathways provides hospice care, palliative care and grief and loss support for residents of northern Colorado.

The healing garden will serve as a space for youth counseling clients to experience healing and active learning, Pathways officials said. Pathways this year has cared for more than 600 child counseling clients, including one-on-one sessions, group counseling and involvement in the Poudre, Thompson and Weld County school districts.

The new outdoor garden, which is being designed by The FronTerra Group, will include a “bird’s nest” with an “eggs seating area for one-on-one counseling, as well as areas for group therapy. There will also be various paths for interaction in narrative play therapy, a memory garden and a mandala for art therapy, among other features.

“Many people forget that children, like adults, grieve after experiencing trauma,” Pathways director of grief and loss Tammy Brannen-Smith said in a news release. “But at Pathways we know that children need love and attention to heal from tragedy. The garden will engage children in therapeutic activities to help them better understand their feelings and cope with the life-death cycle.”

Those interested in sponsorship opportunities at the garden can contact Brannen-Smith at (970) 292-1072 or tammy.brannen-smith@pathways- care.org.