Pamphlets, flyers and cards for mental health resources were available at The Evie Effect's new office. (Raquel Villatoro/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

After losing their daughter Evie in 2019, Michael and Jessica Domingos founded a nonprofit the next year to bring awareness to suicide. Now in 2025, The Evie Effect has a physical location for the first time.

Tucked in Suite 126 inside a 34,000-square-foot building is home to The Evie Effect’s new office at 6141 Paluxy Dr. in Tyler.

On Friday afternoon, purple balloons decorated the path leading to the mental health nonprofit’s new office. People greeted Jessica and congratulated her on the milestone of a new space.

“It’s such a relief and we’re just so grateful to the community to people that donate to us and grant makers for getting us to the point where we can have dedicated space to do this work,” Jessica said.

Jessica is looking forward to being able to collaborate with other nonprofits, having a proper space to do work and being able to do more projects. Having a physical space has allowed for better work-life balance. It also allows the nonprofit to have interns; they currently have two and plan to have more for the summer.

“It allows us to focus on that and plan for the future and honestly, personally having the separation of work, life and home life has been really good for me,” Jessica said. “I feel like I’m more effective as an executive director because I have more balance.”

As The Evie Effect has expanded, it has continued to add events to foster conversations around mental health. It added a holding space series, during which participants learn how to talk to someone struggling with mental health issues.

“When we lost Evie, one of the things we experienced is that not a lot of people can hold space for you,” Jessica said. “They don’t know what to say when you’ve had a suicide loss or you’re struggling. They don’t know how to just listen, so that’s what we’re doing — we’re teaching people how to hold space for people that are struggling with mental health issues, suicidal ideation, how to have a conversation with them and make it about that person.”

The Evie Effect recently received grant funding for a suicide loss retreat called Restoring Hope. The first will focus on mothers who lost their children to suicide. Jessica is excited about creating a space for mothers and offering a space to connect.

“Having people to connect with that are able to sit with you and connect with you on that level is life changing,” Jessica said. “I want to give people that opportunity to heal, to have hope, and to connect with other people so that they can have that community of people that understand that loss.”

Heather Spann, secretary for The Evie Effect, has dealt with depression and feelings of loneliness throughout her life and after losing her 16-year-old son in an accident. Her experiences have made it her mission to give people hope.

“For me it’s really important to let people know that they are not alone, that there are other options besides just giving up, it’s just made a huge impact,” Spann said. “My mental health is now better than it has ever been in my entire life, even after losing my son years ago. A lot of times, when people are really depressed and down, they feel hopeless so my whole goal in being a part of The Evie Effect is to give people hope that things can get better in their lives.”

Spann has been involved with The Evie Effect since the beginning. Spann describes Jessica as a loving, caring and vulnerable person and is “honored to be able to be a part of their purpose for their pain.”

Coming up, the Evie Effect will host the Light the Way 5K: Walk on Rock on at True Vine Brewing Company on April 12. For more information, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/TX/Tyler/WalkOnRockOn. In addition, they will host their annual Evie Rocks concert on Oct. 11.

Events like these help connect people who may be dealing with depression or grief, Spann said.

“Grief can be compound; it could be a job, it could be a marriage, it can be a lot of things and in those moments, people tend to get really down, depressed, isolate, and so a lot of the events that we do, like the 5K, it brings people together just as a community without having to for them to have to reach out,” Spann said.

For more information on the organization, visit https://evieeffect.org .