Free Bereavement Summer Camp Offers Kids Help with Loss, August 25-26
Camp BraveHeart Offered by Center for Grief & Healing at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The fourth annual Camp BraveHeart to help kids and teens ages 5 to 17 who are grieving the loss of a loved one work through their grief is being sponsored this August by the Center for Grief & Healing at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island (www.hhcri.org), the state’s leader in hospice and palliative care since 1976.
 The free, two-day summer camp will be held 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Aug. 25 and 26, at YMCA Camp Fuller in Wakefield for children ages 5 through 17. Children 5- and 6-years-old must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Space at camp is limited. Transportation is available from pre-arranged pick-up and drop-off points in Providence and Warwick.
At Camp BraveHeart children who have lost a loved one will take part in fun activities and receive grief support. Traditional camp activities will include swimming, kayaking, zip line, slip ‘n slide and arts and crafts. Counselors also will provide grief and emotional support through discussions, opportunities to memorialize loved ones, storytelling, scrapbooking and remembrance circles.
“Research indicates that children who experience the loss of a loved one often become ‘forgotten mourners’,” says Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island bereavement coordinator and children’s grief specialist Deanna Upchurch, who holds a master’s in counseling psychology and founded the camp. “These surviving children often feel isolated and lonely in their grief and may not be sure of how to handle the conflicting emotions they are feeling. At Camp BraveHeart, we provide an appropriate emotional outlet to children by offering them grief support in an environment of fun recreational activities, and we help them to understand that what they’re experiencing, although painful, is perfectly normal.”
Camp BraveHeart is made possible through the generous contributions of donors. Anyone wishing to donate to the Camp BraveHeart Fund may send a tax-deductible contribution to Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, Department of Philanthropy, 1085 North Main St., Providence, RI 02904.
Although Camp BraveHeart is free of charge for participants, donations will be accepted.
Bereavement programs of The Center for Grief & Health at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island guide people of all ages through the difficult times that follow the death of someone special. Support groups meet throughout the state at various times throughout the year. Groups are free and open to the public, even to those who are not using the organization’s hospice services. More information about Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island’s bereavement and other services is available by clicking on the following link:
http://www.hhcri.net/ProgramsandServices/BereavementSupport/tabid/194/Default.aspx or by calling the Center for Grief & Healing at 401-415-4300.
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