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Forget Me Not

Camp Forget Me Not helping youth deal with grief for 3rd year

Photo submitted to Times Observer Camp Forget Me Not will be held again this year.

For the third year, Camp Forget Me Not will offer an opportunity for local youth to work through grief.

The one-day event, organized by Hospice of Warren County each year, will offer activities throughout the day to both celebrate the life of a lost loved, as well as to learn ways of coping with grief.

The camp is open to Warren County children ages 7 to 17.

The goal is to make a space for youth — who grieve the death of loved ones differently than adults — where they can have questions answered, fears and concerns validated, and continuing love for the friend or family member who’s passed away reaffirmed, said HOWC Bereavement Coordinator Vonnie Radecki.

It’s also an opportunity to feel less isolated, which is often how children — with their limited understanding of death and dying — can feel when confronting it, especially for the first time. Knowing that peers have similar worries helps to normalize the big emotions that go along with grief.

The past two years’ camps have had increasing attendance each year.

Activities for this year’s camp are mostly the same as the previous two years, according to Radecki. Not only is the goal to continue to offer popular activities, but to ensure that youth who’ve been unable to attend before, or kids who’ve experienced a death since last year’s camp and never had a chance to receive grief services, can take part.

The goal is to serve as many new local children as possible each year.

Among the most popular camp activities are the drumming circle and the dove release, which is held each year at the end of the day. Both of those and other activities are designed to help work through grief and teach effective coping mechanisms.

Certified grief counselors will be on hand, and grief counseling is available to any county resident who’s experienced the loss of a loved one through death, also free of charge, by contact the HOWC office.

The deceased need not have received Hospice services for the bereaved to take advantage of many of HOWC’s bereavement services, said Radecki.

Registration for the camp is required, and registration can be completed by calling HOWC at (814) 723-2455, or by stopping at the agency’s office at 1 Main Avenue in Warren directly across from Warren General Hospital.

The deadline to register is July 19 and camp is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church, 200 Market Street, in Warren.

Camp Forget Me Not is free of charge and open to any county youth who’s experienced the loss of a loved one through death.

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