The loss of a loved family member and the grieving process that follows can be an extremely difficult experience for anyone. But it can be especially hard on children.

That’s why Mary Willhite of Avon and Kathy Stellato of Chagrin Falls, both certified bereavement facilitators, in 2003 founded an organization to provide grief support services to children.

Named Joel’s Place For Children after Willhite’s late husband, the group held a butterfly release in Cahoon Memorial Park Saturday to honor passed family members.

“One of the things we do that we think is so helpful for the children is memorialize their loved ones,” Willhite said.

“The butterfly is a wonderful symbol of hope for the future,” Willhite said, emphasizing the transformation of its life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis before becoming an adult butterfly.

Ten children, their parents and friends each said the name of the loved one he or she was remembering.

The Monarch butterflies — 30 in all — were then gently released by the children from their envelope-like containers. They had been purchased from a butterfly farm in Florida and shipped by FedEx to Willhite’s home, where she kept them in her refrigerator to maintain their hibernation state before release.

Several monarchs lingered around the Cahoon Park gazebo for several minutes, feeding on nectar from surrounding flowers.

Willhite and her husband did not have children. But the children’s services social worker wanted to do something to help people who were grieving. Joel’s Place was formed three years ago after she met Stellato, a pediatric nurse, at an East Side grief support group.

A nondenominational group, Joel’s Place holds grief support group meetings at Bay Presbyterian Church on Lake Road for West Side residents and at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights for those on the East Side.

Groups meet for eight weeks and sessions are 90 minutes long. Age-appropriate discussions, craft projects and games are used to help the children express their feelings.

Ten-year-old Katrina Walker released a butterfly to honor her uncle Michael, who died in 2003 at the age of 52. When some time had passed after her uncle’s death, some acquaintances suggested that she “just get over it” even though she was still grieving. But the loss of a loved one is something one can never really “get over,” she said.

Attending the biweekly meetings at Joel’s Place has helped her with the grieving process a lot, she said.

“It’s nice to be around other people who know what it’s like,” she said.

The group sessions conflicted with her Girl Scout meetings, but Katrina said she valued Joel’s Place so much she chose those meetings over scouting. She has even recommended Joel’s place to a couple of her friends who have lost family members.

Now an adult, Nancy Feighan of Lakewood, a volunteer at Joel’s Place for the past year, told West Life she wishes a similar support group had been available for her when she lost her father when she was 10.

“I wish there had been a place like this for me to talk to other children who were going through the same thing,” she said. “Kids can relate to one another and support one another.”

The group’s grief support sessions at Bay Presbyterian Church will start up again in September. For more information about the organization, go to www.joelsplaceforchildren.org, or call (440) 248-4412.