Supporting Grieving Children- The Elizabeth Hospice

I visited The Elizabeth Hospice, in San Diego, and sat in the Volcano Room,
with my new friend Melissa Lunardini. She gave us a tour and we are learning more about it. Melissa shares:

I am the Children’s Bereavement Manager, and we run support centers for grieving children and teens, ages 3 to 18, who have been impacted by the
death of a loved one. Kids and their families can get support on an ongoing
basis. We run grief camps over the summer and we are also in the schools offering 8 week onsite group support.

This is a community-based program, which means that while children are
in their own group, the adults in their lives who are caring for them, get
support at the same time. And it’s FREE of charge.

Incredible. We have toured the facility and there’s crafts, places kids can
draw on the walls and a tree, where they can write the names of people who
have died that they are missing, and what’s the volcano room?

The volcano room is one of our themed rooms.
We call this the big energy room. It’s where kids can express and
explore heavy and hard emotions such as anger, guilt, regret, confusion,
anxiety or jealousy. It’s giving them permission to have these feelings,
but also teaching them that there are safe ways for them to release those
feelings. We have quite a few themed rooms throughout our centre,
to allow children to tap into whatever works best for them,
in order to process their grief.

You can find information at
www.elizabethhospice.org

And if you are not in the area, you are welcome to reach out (even if you live
in another country!) We are happy to connect you with resources in your hometown. Anyone, anywhere can access support and I encourage you to do so,
if you are grieving. Reach out! You are never alone!

Melissa, thank you for all that you do! This is such a special place and a
hard journey for many people, and I have no doubt that you are helping
them along the way and making a big difference.

Keep Showing Up Everyone! xo


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