Counseling Resources:
Akron Children's Hospital: 330-543-8254 or 330-543-3343; ask for Nancy; 6 week program (have kids' programs)
Mercy Pastoral: 330-489-1143; 8 week program
Reed Funeral Home: 705 Raff Rd., 330-477-6721; ask for Gloria or Carol; evening sessions and daytime sessions
Hospice of Tusc.: held at St. Anthony's Church in Canton; 330-493-0126; evenings
Aultman: ask for Brenda Brown (have some kids' programs)
Visiting Nurses of Summit County: Saturdays
Mercy Pastoral: 330-489-1143; 8 week program
Reed Funeral Home: 705 Raff Rd., 330-477-6721; ask for Gloria or Carol; evening sessions and daytime sessions
Hospice of Tusc.: held at St. Anthony's Church in Canton; 330-493-0126; evenings
Aultman: ask for Brenda Brown (have some kids' programs)
Visiting Nurses of Summit County: Saturdays
Comfort Zone Camp
We have attended this place for several years and cannot speak more highly of it. Please, send your children even if they think they do not want to go. It is a fantastic place filled with truly good people! I spoke to the director at the NJ location and she was telling me about their program. I'd love to start one up in Ohio. Amazing opportunity, I think! Check it out!
www.comfortzonecamp.org
www.comfortzonecamp.org
Links for Friends and Loved Ones: MUST READS!
These are wonderful to share with our support systems or to give to a newly widowed friend or acquaintance. I related to these in so many ways....even now.
How You Can Help Me | |
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To My Friend | |
File Size: | 210 kb |
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Recommended Books for Adults and Kids
For Adults:
* Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World Seven Choices by Elizabeth Harper Neeld, PhD
* Traveling through Grief: Learning to Live Again After the Death of a Loved One by Zonnebelt-Smeenge and De Vries
* Life after Death: Rediscovering Life after Loss of a Loved One by Tony Cooke
* Hope for Bereaved: Understanding, Coping, and Growing through Grief by Therese S. Schoeneck
For Kids:
* Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World Seven Choices by Elizabeth Harper Neeld, PhD
* Traveling through Grief: Learning to Live Again After the Death of a Loved One by Zonnebelt-Smeenge and De Vries
* Life after Death: Rediscovering Life after Loss of a Loved One by Tony Cooke
* Hope for Bereaved: Understanding, Coping, and Growing through Grief by Therese S. Schoeneck
For Kids:
- After You Lose Someone You Love by Dennison
Recommended Web Sources
Sesame Street has a great page that I thought would be too young for my kids (elementary school age). However, upon watching it, I think it even allows older kids the chance to hear other kids like themselves talk about their feelings and what things they do to feel better. This is just one more way to keep the gates of communication wide open :) Enjoy! http://www.sesameworkshop.org/grief
Ideas for Parents
- If you haven't already done this, try journaling with your kids. We alternate between writing in our family journal with good 'ol pen and paper and video-recording those special memories (some NOT so special memories, too!) that the kids and I have about their Dad. This started when one of my children expressed a worry that they may forget their Dad. If your kids have similar concerns, maybe this will help all of you realize you have an abundance of memories that will always be with you.
- Encourage the school your children attend to offer a grief support group for the kids that are affected by the loss of a parent. Ours did and it was helpful for the kids to realize they were not alone and that what they were feeling was normal.
Quotes, Bible Verses, and Sayings to Make You Think...
"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles"- Christopher Reeve
Whatever your cry, God hears; Whatever our problem, God understands; Whatever your trial, God sees; Whatever your need, God provides.
"We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live". Carolyn Wells
"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, the encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the power to endure."- Maya Angelou
"You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present"- Jan Glidewell
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~Melody Beattie
1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anais Nin
Psalm 30:5 says: "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."
1 Peter 5:6-7 says: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Proverbs 3 says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings."- Victor Hugo
"Life does not consist of getting a good hand, but in learning to play a bad hand well."- Robert Louis Stevenson
"A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short." - Unknown
Whatever your cry, God hears; Whatever our problem, God understands; Whatever your trial, God sees; Whatever your need, God provides.
"We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live". Carolyn Wells
"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, the encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the power to endure."- Maya Angelou
"You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present"- Jan Glidewell
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~Melody Beattie
1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~Anais Nin
Psalm 30:5 says: "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."
1 Peter 5:6-7 says: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Proverbs 3 says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings."- Victor Hugo
"Life does not consist of getting a good hand, but in learning to play a bad hand well."- Robert Louis Stevenson
"A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short." - Unknown