Summer camp supports grieving kids

PROVIDENCE – Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island sponsors Camp BraveHeart, a free, two-day summer camp for kids and teens, ages 4 to 17, who have lost a loved one.  The camp runs Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at YMCA Camp Fuller in Wakefield.

At Camp BraveHeart, children may participate in recreational activities and receive grief support. Activities include swimming, kayaking, archery, tower climbing, zipline, gardening, storytelling and arts and crafts. In addition, counselors provide grief and emotional support through discussions, opportunities to memorialize loved ones, scrapbooking and remembrance circles.

“Children who experience the loss of a loved one can sometimes become ‘forgotten mourners,’” said Home & Hospice Care children’s grief specialist, Deanna Upchurch, in a release. “These surviving children often feel isolated and lonely in their grief and may not be sure how to handle the conflicting emotions they feel. Camp Braveheart offers them grief support in an environment of fun recreational activities.  We help them understand that what they’re experiencing is normal.”

To register, call 415-4610 by Aug. 16; transportation is available to and from pre-arranged pick-up and drop-off points.