For children who loose someone close to them, it can be an overwhelming to figure out how to pick up the pieces of their life one day at a time.  Recently in my own world I’ve watched my neighbors struggle with this after the loss of a parent.  So it made me incredibly proud to be a part of an agency that recognizes the unique grief that these children are going through at this time, and invite them to our 2010 Camp BEARable for kids.

Here are some facts about Camp BEARable:

• State of the Heart Hospice offers grief support for children
• For ten years, State of the Heart has offered Camp BEARable to area youth
• Youth needing grief support do not have to have an association with hospice care
• Practically all of the youth attending Camp BEARable have no association with hospice
• Camp BEARable is for youth ages six to 15
• Hospices nationwide offer camps for youth
• Hospice officials believe that grief support for youth can help prevent problems later in life
• Each youth is assigned a specially trained adult “buddy” for the weekend camp
• The camp offers a mixture of fun and games mixed with serious dialogue
• In post camp surveys, youth say they feel “safe” expressing themselves at camp
• At camp, youth find that others feel as they do about their loss
• School officials sometimes direct youth to Camp BEARable
• The weekend camp is totally free as are all of the bereavement services
• Hospice grief specialists conduct grief support programs in area schools
• Nearly 500 youth have attended Camp BEARable over the years
• Grief specialists offer weekly grief support sessions for youth
• Grief specialists also provide one on one sessions with grieving youth
• State of the Heart provides books on grief for area school administrators
• Grief specialists can go into schools where a tragic accident or death has occurred
• Music therapy is sometimes used in grief therapy for young people
• Camp BEARable concludes with a “balloon launch” on Sunday afternoon
• Volunteers for Camp BEARable find the experience a great one and enlightening

I encourage you that if you know of a youth in your area that would benefit from grief counseling to contact your local Hospice about grief support.  Just like my neighbor kids won’t have to pick up their pieces alone, neither should any child.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 9:19 am and is filed under State of the Heart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.