There is no cost to this new program. Every Monday at HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Centennial Hall from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. From 5:00 to 5:30 they have a snack then they meet with their facilitator to work on a project that they make and take home or finish the next week.
The children/ teens are in age- appropriate groups to help them process their grief through activities such as different craft activities. Some of the activities include making memory boxes, bead bracelets, making memory stones, using colored pipe cleaners to make flowers or animals. The older teens might work on making wind chimes or Japanese memory boxes.
These are just a few activities that help the children/teens to talk as they make crafts in memory of their loved ones. This allows them to have a voice and talk about their loved one — not as a counseling session or to take their grief away but rather a chance for them to express their feelings and thoughts as they work and talk together with others, that they might not otherwise do at home. Questions? Contact Dr. Dee Stern at 217-494-4747, chaplain at St. John’s Hospital, a Grief Therapist and LCPC.
