Camp Good Grief helping kids cope

Published 6:00 pm Saturday, May 28, 2022

For the 25th time, Camp Good Grief will work to equip children from local and surrounding communities with productive ways to cope with loss.

The camp is an initiative of Hospice Care Options that uses a variety of methods to help children work through the stages of grief. 

Camp Good Grief Coordinator Brenda Knight said the loss kids may be dealing with doesn’t always necessarily mean death. The camp also encompasses the grief that can come from life changes such as the loss of a pet, having to move to a strange town or watching parents go through a divorce.

“We’ve helped a lot of children along the way…,” said Knight, who has been a hospice volunteer for 15 years. “Little children, they come to find out at camp that actually they’re not the only one that has had a dad or a mom die or a grandmother or grandfather. … It really helps them to understand about death, or about your animal dying, or your mama and daddy divorcing.”

Camp Good Grief is for children between ages 6 and 14. About 20 volunteers work together to help the camp operate smoothly, and those volunteers also include specialists like social workers to pay close attention to the children. 

Participating children, who are often referred by their schools, are organized into four groups depending on their age. Knight said anywhere between 15 and 35 kids typically attend each year but that number varies. Many of the children often attend for more than one year depending upon the stage of their grief. A cornerstone of the program is understanding that all children grieve differently. Many of the students who go through the camp will often come back and later serve as volunteers.

The therapy available to the kids during Camp Good Grief has five aspects, and different components are used depending on the needs of each individual case. These include art therapy, music therapy, writing therapy, pet therapy, group therapy and recreational games.

“We express the grief through all of these programs,” Knight said. “Especially during group time, they can talk about their experiences and they can hear other children’s experiences, and it really helps them out.”

The camp lasts three days and during the last day, the parents or guardians of each child are invited to join a final ceremony, during which special paper fades away to symbolize the release of the grief from the children’s bodies and souls. The goal of Camp Good Grief is to allow the children to discover different outlets and resources from their feelings of frustration, sadness, anger and guilt.

The funds for the camp are provided by Hospice Care Options of Milledgeville. However, donations from the community are always welcomed and needed.  

In addition to the unique group activities that the camp offers, they also provide community education as well. In year’s past, Knight said police officers have visited to talk with the kids, and firemen have volunteered to speak about fire safety. This year, a fitness trainer will come speak to the children about healthy ways to stay active.

Camp Good Grief will be held at Northside Baptist Church on June 1-3, and Knight and other volunteers are hopeful of seeing the continued progress and healing that they have seen through the initiative in years past. 

“Over the years, I’ve seen how beneficial it is,” Knight said.