Expanding Grief Support

Helping More Young Grievers Navigate Their Unique Experiences

Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice (RNCH) has recently redesigned and expanded existing Grief Support Services to reach more young grievers in the region. As recognized leaders in the field of children’s grief, RNCH has used years of expertise to create multi-disciplinary and collaborative programming designed to help grieving kids find support, community, compassion, and connection. The team approach includes significant contributions from social work, recreation therapy, psychology and spiritual care. Together, they bring well-rounded supports and services to children, youth, families and the RNCH team. 

Now available to children and youth who have experienced the death of someone significant in their lives, these free grief services take place onsite at RNCH in a variety of formats.       

Laura Coatsworth, Social Worker at RNCH, explains that Grief Support Services are delivered by her team in co-facilitation with RNCH’s recreational therapists. “Social work is the lead for individual counselling and closed group sessions called Grief Circles for Children and Youth. Group sessions are emphasized knowing that grief is a very lonely and isolating experience that is well supported in community and connection with other people. However, as every young person is unique, some need individual help too.”  Laura hopes that the multi-week Grief Circles program will empower young people to find or regain the confidence to seek and maintain the relationships they will need for life. “Because we know that grief is going to be held and carried forever, the desired result is that young people will move towards expanding their organic supports and connections in their community.”  

Facilitated by recreational therapists, RNCH’s Grief Connections Program for Children and Youth consists of informal drop-in sessions offering opportunities to meet new friends. Says, Leah Bradley, Recreation Therapist, “Connections is about building confidence and having the space to interact with others who are grieving. Drop-ins are activity based featuring special guests, art projects, martial arts, games, theme days, fun, and more! Children come here for an indescribably hard reason and success is when they return. We want them to want to come back until they don’t need to come back.”  

Knowing that children grieve differently from adults, RNCH’s grief services are tailored to each stage of a child’s development. Says Leah, “Sometimes a child’s first experience with grief is also the first time they are exposed to death. Often the children we are meeting have suffered a huge loss, such as a sibling or parent, without having the language or understanding of what it means to die or grieve.”  Laura agrees adding, “We are here to help demystify death and teach grief and death literacy in a way that a little person can understand.” 

Some of Laura’s teaching equipment includes all-weather shoes and a soccer ball. “Unlike adults, kids are developmentally unable to process grief for an extended period or sustain the same level of emotional involvement in grief. So, we take breaks or go outside. Adults are verbal whereas interactions involving play or activity are more in line with a younger child’s stage of development. We feel it is important to follow their lead and way of processing.”    

Families can access Grief Support Services by calling or emailing RNCH’s grief services coordinator who will collect information. An assigned social worker will next reach out to work in collaboration with family members and assess which grief services are best suited to a child’s current needs.  

Struggling to choose just one objective she strives for through her work, Leah describes a gift presented in perpetuity. “Our goal is to give these children a toolbox that they can use, wrapped up with a bow. But also, to have them know, that if that bow should start to unravel, they can always come back.”  

For Laura, the answer is twofold. “I never want a child to get stuck in themselves in a way where they can’t navigate what they have been through. I also want RNCH to always be a space where the legacy of the person who has died gets to live on and have a voice in a society where we often don’t talk enough about death and dying.”  

Asked for a final thought, Laura says, “There is deep, deep, sorrow in grief but there is also a lot of love and joy. And if this place can encapsulate and be a space for both, then I think we have done right by the people we walk alongside.”  

Accessing Grief Support Services at Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice

To discover more about Grief Support Services at Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice and to access available resources, please visit www.rogerneilsonchildrenshospice.ca