COLUMBUS, Ohio — There are many different ways people cope with loss. Whether it's crying, writing down your feelings or just talking with family friends, it's important to grieve in a way that works for you.

For some people, that means having a conversation with the person you just loss. An old rotary phone in Ohio is helping one woman do just that.

What You Need To Know

  • OhioHealth's CHAT phone is an old rotary phone that bereaved individuals can use as a tool to help bereaved individuals grieve 

  • CHAT stands for Connecting Here and There; the phone doesn't have a dial tone, it's just a tool

  • Jean Christian uses the CHAT phone to talk to her husband who passed away last year 

Jean Christian dialed a phone number she never thought she would dial again, talking on the phone with her late husband who passed away last year. Jean is using the CHAT phone, which helps people who are grieving talk to their loved one who have passed away. It's an old rotary phone not connected to anything.

“My intention was to come out here and see it," Christian said. "And the minute I approached the phone, I wanted to use it and I called my husband and it was as real as a real gets for me."

CHAT stands for connecting here and there. It’s an old rotary phone nestled in the corner of the serenity garden at OhioHealth’s Kobacker House. It’s a tool, available to anyone, that OhioHealth bereavement counselor Tracy Lutz-Youger says helps people grieve and mourn in a way she’s never seen before. 

“There's something about holding this old rotary phone in your hands, up to your ear, and being in this natural setting where we're all connected to the natural world," Lutz-Youger said. "And that barrier or that awkwardness just kind of seems to disappear for people."

The CHAT phone officially became available in June, but it took three years to get to this point. Lutz-Youger said the phone has been used a lot. 

“Counselors are meeting with family members here to do counseling sessions," she said. "If it comes up that they want to talk to their person, but they feel strange or they're not doing it because they're scared to do it, you know, it feels awkward, they can take them out in the garden and let them give it a try and see what the experience is like."

It's so successful that Christian’s church support grief group wants a CHAT phone too.

“I envision probably within a year we'll have a phone on our property somewhere,” Christian said.

This isn’t the only such phone in Ohio. A grieving woman built a similar device called a Wind Phone at Quail Hollow Park in Stark County. Like the one at Ohio Health, that one is accessible to anyone who wants to use it.