Pre-Camp & Post-Camp Grief Support Groups
Grief Support Groups
Columbia Montour Home Hospice uses the Highmark Caring Place (HCP) Model for conducting Pre-Camp and Post-Camp Grief Support Groups. The model is a family based, child focused peer support program for grieving children and their families. As a family based program, staff and volunteers assist the child by not only addressing the child's grief, but by supporting the rest of the family members who play a significant role in their lives and are also grieving the same loss.
Six and seven year old siblings of the children and teens who will be attending the camps are also invited to attend these sessions.
It is believed that by assisting the entire family, you assist the child. As a child focused program, the model acknowledges that the primary focus of the program is to support the grief work of children and that to do so, you must approach the grief work from the perspective of a child, not that of an adult.
As such, the program focuses on the developmentally appropriate expression of grief and asks that group facilitators acknowledges the different perspective that a child may have on grief and the world in general.
As a peer support group, the Grief Support Group is not a clinical program. While it is supervised by a clinical professional, it does not provide counseling or therapy. Hospice staff and volunteers are tasked with creating the environment, encouraging sharing through discussion, play or activities
and listening to program participants under the guidance of the program's clinical staff.
The support groups use a "closed-ended" model. The Pre-Camp Support Group consists of meetings occurring every week over a period of five weeks preceding Camp Courage I in May. The Post-Camp Support Group consists of meetings occurring every week over a period of six weeks following Camp Courage II in October. As a closed ended model, the same families, staff and volunteers are assigned to a particular group and attend that group throughout the support group sessions.
A typical group night begins at 5:00pm when families begin arriving to take part in the first part of the program. The first hour of the program after families arrive is often referred to as the "dinner hour." During this hour, the focus is on unstructured but supportive interaction between and among volunteers and families. Dinner (generally kid friendly foods, such as pizza and hoagies) is provided each night of the program, focusing on the nurturing nature of the program.
Coming together as a "community" of grieving people, families realize that they are not alone in their grief and that others are present to support them through their grief. After dinner, the group has a brief transition time before moving into age appropriate groups to take part in discussion, activities, games or arts and crafts planned by volunteers and staff to address the needs of the groups each week.
Here the focus is on using the activities of the group to encourage sharing and support among the peers in each group. At approximately 7:00pm, the families reunite in the forum for a brief closing before transitioning to a safe departure from the facility.
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To provide additional grief support for campers and their families, a five session, Pre-Camp Grief Support Group precedes the May Camp Courage and a six session Post-Camp Grief Support Group follows the October Camp Courage. During these sessions, Columbia Montour Home Hospice offers group activity sessions geared specifically to the needs of the children, teens and their families.
The sessions provide increased opportunity for those who attend camp in May or October
to work together healing and a healthy resolution of their grief.
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Columbia Montour Home Hospice
Attn: Bereavement Camp, 410 Glenn Avenue, Suite 200
Bloomsburg, PA 17815
Opportunities to volunteer are available. Please click here for more information.
For more information, call 570-784-1723 or our toll-free number at 1-800-349-4702.
