We help New Yorkers carry grief together

Our Story

In 2010, when Tami Schneider’s husband, Rick, died she and her two children—then just 14 and 11—tried to find meaningful grief support in New York City. What they encountered instead was a confusing patchwork: long waitlists, limited options, and services that were often short-term or narrowly defined. Tami believes that if a comprehensive, community-based model like Our House NYC had existed in New York City at the time, her family’s experience of grief—and healing—would have been profoundly different.

Out of that gap, Tami built community. She founded Lost & Found, a grassroots network that — over the past 15 years — has grown to more than 300 grieving New Yorkers who, like her, were seeking community connection, understanding, and support.

In 2023, she came to Our House in Los Angeles with a bold and heartfelt request: bring your model to New York. They said yes—and Our House NYC began.

Our Roots

We launched as a project of Our House Grief Support Center in Los Angeles, and we carry deep gratitude for the board and staff of Our House in Los Angeles. For more than 30 years, Our House has offered a respected, compassionate model of grief support—one that combines clinical integrity with the simple, powerful truth that healing happens in community. Our early partnership gave Our House NYC a strong foundation, and today, we are building on that foundation to create a new home for grief support—built with and for New York City.

Our Mission

We exist for people grieving all kinds of loss: the death of a partner, parent, child, sibling, friend, colleague or anyone close to you.

Our work is grounded in a simple promise: you don’t have to do this alone. We offer grief support groups and programs designed to help people feel less isolated, more understood, and more resourced over time—without rushing or “fixing” grief.

We’re also here to lead a cultural shift in how New York  understands and responds to grief and  loss: providing education and resources for schools, workplaces, and hospitals to destigmatize grief and create connection and more resilience in our communities.

If you’re grieving, we’re here. If you want to help bring grief support to more New Yorkers, we welcome you—as a volunteer, a partner, or a donor.

Our Team

  • Close-up of a smiling woman with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a black blazer, indoors with a blurred background.

    Tami Schneider

    FOUNDER & BOARD CHAIR

  • A woman with long brown hair, glasses, and a big smile, wearing a black blazer and white shirt, posing against a plain light gray background.

    Sarah McCollum Williams

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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    Danielle Kowalczyk

    DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

  • A woman with long, wavy brown hair and light skin, smiling at the camera, wearing a white top.

    Georgia Lavey

    CLINICAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR

  • A young man with glasses and short brown hair, smiling, wearing a blue collared shirt, against a light gray background.

    Lucas Womack

    SENIOR CLINICAL COORDINATOR