Guide to Support Groups for Parents/Caregivers

Presenters:Patti Cox, CZC Employee

Jill FitzGerald, LCSW

About UsOur MissionComfort Zone provides grieving children with a voice, a place and a community in which to heal, grow and lead more fulfilling lives. Our VisionComfort Zone envisions a world where grieving children are not forgotten or left to grieve alone, and are supported by a wide community that understands and appreciates them. Comfort Zone Camp is the nation’s largest bereavement camp. Comfort Zone Camps are offered free of charge to children ages 7-17 who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver. The camps are held year-round in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia. Comfort Zone Camps create an environment where grieving children can have fun and break the isolation death often brings, while learning valuable coping skills for their daily lives.

Our Reach: Beyond Just CampDistance is Not an IssueComfort Zone Camp has hosted campers from 44 States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Our goal is to reach families in all 50 states. We believe in removing all barriers to camp, and assist with travel when necessary.

OnlineComfort Zone developed HelloGrief.org to start a discussion about the impact of loss and build a community of support for those living with loss. Hello Grief offers an online community where you can share and remember loved ones by creating interactive memorial walls, writing blog posts, and connecting in the forums. Hello Grief also posts weekly stories from people living with loss, and coping strategies provided by grief experts. Weekly Local Support Groups Comfort Zone also hosts support groups for adults and children throughout the year, providing a network of support for the whole family. 

Check out Camp

Lynne Hughes, Founder of Comfort Zone Camps

Support GroupsWe offer free grief support groups for adults and children ages 5 and up. The groups contain 8-10 members, with children gathered by age. The groups meet one hour and 15 minutes a week for six weeks.  Comfort Zone Support Groups are facilitated by trained grief counselors, and are designed to: • provide a safe and separate place for children and adults to express their grief, emotions, fears, and concerns foster an age-appropriate understanding of the reality and circumstances of death  • strengthen coping skills  • boost self-esteem  • reduce the feelings of isolation common in the grieving process.  The child and adult support groups are held at the same time, so that the family can focus on their individual grief simultaneously.

Group Formation

Why a group? Need for validation/affirmation, power of universality; decrease sense of isolation

Size

Group Formation

Type of Loss

Group Formation

Breakdown of 6 week interval

Group Formation

Advertising Strategies

What works?What doesn’t?

Group Structure

Begin & end the group with activity to help release endorphins…

Group Structure

Create sense of safety via guidelines Lay out the differences (loss, timing, type

of death – sudden vs. expected, etc) Less is more Wrap up is crucial! Use of rituals; allow

parents to own the group by bringing in materials-books, articles, poems, etc.

Group Structure

Create sense of safety via guidelines

Lay out the differences (loss, timing, type of death – sudden vs. expected, etc)

Less is more

Group Structure

Wrap up is crucial! Use of rituals; allow parents to own the group by bringing in materials-books, articles, poems, etc.

Pyschoeducational Component: “Knowledge is Power”

Work of Grief

”No less strenuous a task than digging a ditch”

T. Rando

Pyschoeducational Component: “Knowledge is Power”

Grief vs Trauma

Difference/similarities of grief & trauma

Pyschoeducational Component: “Knowledge is Power”

What Grieving Children Need

Pyschoeducational Component: “Knowledge is Power”

Discussion of Triggers What triggers do to create a resurgence of the grief response

Pyschoeducational Component: “Knowledge is Power”

Barriers that Hinder Grieving Children

Activities/Interventions

Showing pictures Ice breaker games “Have you Ever?” Choice Game Veteran Parent Panel Coping Strategies

Competition “The Things They Carried”

Exercise

Weekly Challenge Self Care Quiz Guided

Imagery/Affirmations- Belleruth Naparstek

Random Acts of Kindness Affirmation Activity with

Yarn – “Spider web” Music & Journaling Closing “pulse check” How to Know When You

Are Getting Better….

Activities/Interventions

Ice Breaker Games

Activities/Interventions

“Have you Ever?”

Pitfalls

Clients coming too early following a loss Isolation within the group Timing constraints

Give Descript or Example of Each

Pitfalls

Pacing Intensity level- potentially scaring other

group members Client’s monopolizing group time Watch your language!

Give Descript or Example of Each

Staying Connected/Follow-Up

Referrals to individual therapist

Staying Connected/Follow-Up

Resources – handouts, websites, other agencies

Staying Connected/Follow-Up

Future Sessions – option to continue with additional sessions

Staying Connected/Follow-Up

Option of members staying in touch

Staying Connected/Follow-Up

Bibliography- recommend continued education about grief via books/articles

Success Stories

Video Clip of interviews with adults who have been in the program for awhile and have benefited from it will be embedded here on final version

Resources

HelloGrief.Org

Contact UsEmail

supportgroups@comfortzonecamp.org

Phone

Toll-free: (866) 488-5679

Internet:

http://www.comfortzonecamp.org

Postal:

4906 Cutshaw Avenue - 2nd FloorRichmond, VA 23230