Danielle Parent, director of the Maine Resiliency Center, right, speaks on Oct. 10 to the Sun Journal about what the past year has been like for her and her crew while Ruby Bean, director of resource development for community concepts, listens in. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

When the Maine Resiliency Center opened its doors 19 days after the mass shooting, some of the people who came in had just left their houses for the first time since Oct. 25.

At a time of uncertainty and grief, the center provided a safe place for survivors, witnesses, family and friends of victims, first responders – anyone in the community who was impacted by the shooting.

“It’s been one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever had the opportunity to witness. I’ve learned so much about love and about grief and about life after grief,” said Monica Linder, one of the advocate navigators who works with guests at the center.

Over the past year, the center has become a critical resource for more than 400 people, whether they came for weekly support groups, to learn coping skills or to get help finding a counselor.

It’s a place where they can “share about their experiences, how the trauma or the traumatic grief is impacting them, learning from others that they’re not alone and that they’re having a normal reaction to what is a very abnormal event that has occurred in our community,” said Danielle Parent, the center’s director.

The center is run by Community Concepts Inc., which worked with the city of Lewiston, the state and other partners to open the space. The city and the Office of the Maine Attorney General are covering the cost of running the center and will be reimbursed by a federal grant from the Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program.

That grant, still in the application process, will fund the center for 27 months, ensuring it will stay open through at least early 2026. Parent said that could be extended and Community Concepts wants to see it stay open permanently.

The center has meeting areas with couches and comfortable chairs donated by local businesses, a children’s area with toys and art supplies, and other spaces where people can come together to talk. Artwork covers the wall. One wall is dedicated to the assortment of  cards, pictures and signs people sent to support the community.

For Tammy Asselin, who was at the bowling alley with her daughter, the center has been an anchor to process their grief and trauma. It has helped her to talk to people who understand what happened and are navigating many of the same emotions, she said.

“It’s amazing to know how similar our paths are, like we might have gone through something initially different, and are here for maybe different reasons, but our journeys are very similar,” Asselin said.

The center will be open for at least another year, but over time, the resources offered could change to meet people where they are in their recovery process. Parent said it will continue to be important to have a place where people can come together and understand that it’s OK that they’re not OK.

“Things are going to continue to occur in people’s lives that are going to impact the trajectory of healing in their trauma. We’re going to have new births. There will be new deaths,” she said. “There will be life events like weddings, and there are holidays, and there are events like the commission, for example – all of which add layers and alter the course of that trauma healing.”

This story is part of an ongoing collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and Maine Public that includes an upcoming documentary. It is supported through FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.