Grief Support Group
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The family grief series is for families with youth ages 5 through 18 and also young adults of college age, who have experienced the death of someone significant in their lives. Children and teens come to Mourning Hope following the death of a sibling, parent, grandparent, or friend. All are welcome.
New families are welcome to join for the first two weeks of the series. Thereafter, the series is closed. This allows children and caregivers attending the ten-week series to establish trust and comfort among a familiar group as they do the work of mourning.
Mourning Hope has developed a curriculum for its 10-week Family Grief Series based upon the work of nationally-known death educator-counselor, Alan Wolfelt, and our experience working with hundreds of grieving families since Mourning Hope's beginnings in 1994. The curriculum includes discussion themes, activities to help kids express themselves through art, games, and dramatic play. After a brief time together with all the families in the series, participants divide up by age group. The size of each age group ranges from three-eight youth, and each group has two volunteer facilitators.
Some families chose to contact Mourning Hope within the first few months after the death of a loved one. Others wait a year or more before calling. There is no timeline for grief and the choice is different for each family. As children grow and develop they often re-grieve losses as their developmental abilities progress, and so many families attend the grief series more than once.
The Family Grief Series is offered several times each year, and is offered on either Monday or Tuesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 p.m. For more information, contact hope@mourninghope.org or call (402) 488-8989.
Ongoing Grief
One of the essential needs of mourning is receiving ongoing support from others, and families find this in the Ongoing Grief Support Group. The Ongoing Group meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday evenings of each month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Some evenings the group has a theme to discuss and complementary age-based activities. Other nights, the group meets just to do something fun together. For more information about the ongoing group, contact hope@mourninghope.org or call (402) 488-8989.