Bereavement Camps for Children and Adolescents

Planning, Curriculum, and Evaluation

Irene Searles McClatchey, Jane S. Wimmer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351819718
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Psicoterapia

Bereavement Camps for Children and Adolescents is the first book to describe in detail how to create bereavement camps for children and adolescents. It is a comprehensive how-to guide, offering practical advice on planning, curriculum building, and evaluation. Readers will find a step-by-step plan for building a non-profit organization, including board development and fundraising, such as grant writing, soliciting businesses, and holding special events, as well as valuable information on nonprofit management and volunteer recruitment. The appendices include a variety of sample forms, letters, and more.

1

Bereavement Camp Background

When you walk into camp you feel like a burden has been lifted off your shoulders, because these people are really there for you. They are there for you and it’s a bonding experience with the other people, too. You feel like you are alone in this but you are really not. There are other people who are going through the same thing and camp brings those people together, to feel wanted and to feel as if their lives are not over. This is just the beginning.

—16-year-old camper (McClatchey & Wimmer, 2012)

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the issue of parental death and to the bereavement camp modality of intervention. The chapter begins with individual case stories of children and families impacted by parental death. In our descriptions, adjustments have been made to protect campers’ identities. Next, a brief worldwide perspective is given followed by information on orphaned children in the United States. The authors provide a rationale for the camp setting as a background for work with bereaved children, including a history of bereavement camps. The chapter concludes by revisiting the four case stories.

Meet Some Campers

Bree, 17, asked her mother not to go talk to her husband, Bree’s father. She had witnessed her father beat her mother many times. Her mother was in deep despair each time. She felt she owed her husband one more visit to explain her reasons for wanting a divorce, especially since he was begging her to stay. Bree pleaded with her mother, “Mom, you decided to divorce him. He knows why. Please don’t go.” Before midnight, Bree was awakened by her older sister who gently told her that their mother would not come home anymore. Her father had killed their mother and had been arrested.

Marius, 14, and his father were shooting hoops late one Saturday evening. Marius’s father suddenly grabbed his chest and slumped to the ground. Marius knew immediately what was going on. He had just received training in CPR at his high school. He worked diligently to resuscitate his father while his mother was calling 911. Marius only gave up his efforts as the ambulance’s emergency medical technicians took over. He stood in the driveway feeling like a failure, watching the ambulance drive off with his parents into the dark night. He was never to see his father again.

Amber, 11, was being tucked in bed by her mother on the warm summer evening. Everyone was on vacation from school, and her older sisters had joined them in her bedroom. As they were discussing their day and making plans for the next day, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Her father emerged in the doorway holding a gun in one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other. He slowly raised the hand with the gun, aimed, and shot Amber’s mother, sisters, and then Amber. Her father slowly walked back downstairs. In the deafening quiet Amber realized that she was still alive, even if her leg was aching. She pulled herself along the floor into the hallway to summon help. When she got to the hallway, she heard, then saw, her father coming back up the stairs still holding the gun. She knew she was about to be killed. Terrified, she locked eyes with her father who lifted his gun and aimed it at Amber. He changed his mind, and pointed the gun to his temple. With one loud boom, he killed himself. She and her oldest sister were the only survivors.

Morgan, 10, rushed off the school bus and ran to his house to tell his dad about the excellent grade he had received on his book project. Morgan lived with his dad and his father’s on-again off-again girlfriend. That day Morgan did not expect her to be at his house. He grabbed the key under the flowerpot and let himself in. His dad was not home, which was a bit unusual, since his shift at the hospital ended at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and he generally was home to greet Morgan. Morgan fixed himself a snack and proceeded to play games on his computer. He was really absorbed in the games and did not realize how late it was until he started feeling hunger pains. It was 8:30 and dad was still not home. Now, this was odd as it was 30 minutes until Morgan’s bedtime. He picked up the phone and dialed his father’s cell phone number. He let it ring and ring with no answer. He did this several times before he called his paternal grandfather, Robert. Hearing that Morgan’s father was not home, his grandparents immediately came over. Together they called his father’s work, friends, and acquaintances. Nobody had seen or heard from him that afternoon. Finally, Robert began calling hospital emergency rooms and got the news that two young men had been brought in with gunshot wounds that day and that the ER personnel were trying to locate relatives. Not until Robert and his wife arrived at the ER were they informed of the death of not only Morgan’s father, but also their other son, Morgan’s uncle. Morgan was anxiously waiting for them to come back home, and his excitement of seeing his grandparents return quickly changed into devastation as he heard the news.

The Global Perspective on Parental Death

Around the globe, children have coped with the death of parents from before the time of recorded history. In England between 1700 and 1750 the rate of death for women at childbirth was 10.5 per 1,000 and between 1800 and 1850, maternal deaths in childbirth were 5.0 per 1,000 (Chamberlain, 1999, Table 1). The maternal mortality rates for 2010 statistics reflect a worldwide high in maternal deaths in Southern Sudan with 20.54 per 1,000. The varied numbers can be viewed from the perspective of Sweden with 4 per 100,000 (.004 per 1,000) and the United States with 21 per 100,000 (.021 per 1,000) (U.S. Government, n.d.).

Often the deaths of these women of childbearing age leave children within the family unit orphaned. In the 21st century, wars, civil unrest, disease, and natural disasters continue to bring grief to many children daily. Statistics from 2014 produced by the U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S. Government, 2016) show that there were 140 million orphans under the age of 18 worldwide. In most instances, cultural practices and extended family are the only resources available to help children cope with their grief. In cases of displaced persons and refugees, many children are left with no one—no family, no extended family, no community.

The AIDS epidemic has been a highly visible phenomenon bringing attention to grandparents raising orphaned grandchildren. It is estimated that 17 million children worldwide have experienced the death of one or both of their parents to AIDS. Approximately 90% of these children live in Sub-Saharan Africa (U.S. Government, 2014, para.1). This crisis is huge and the reactions of orphaned children vary widely; several researchers have documented the difficulties children face. Bhargava (2005), studying AIDS orphans in Ethiopia, found family financial well-being to be the strongest predictor of school participation and social and emotional adjustment. Cluver, Orkin, Boyes, Gardner, and Nikelo (2012) found that AIDS orphan status and caregiver sickness in South Africa caused “worsening in mental health symptoms over a four-year period” (p. 863) in youth and “increased depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms” (p. 857) regardless of family income. In Uganda, Atwine, Cantor-Graae, and Bajunirwe (2005) found that AIDS orphans had higher scores on depression and other mental health difficulties than a control group and that orphans who had access to support groups had better outcomes. They note the need for increased mental health services for this population and a lack of these services in most low-income countries.

The U.S. Perspective

Millions of children in the United States are impacted by parental death. Statistics from the Social Security Administration death benefits indicate that in 2014 approximately 1.9 million children under the age of 18 received payments based on the death of a parent (SSA, n.d.). This number does not reflect the additional children who did not qualify for Social Security survivors’ benefits. Bereaved children’s grief reactions include mental, emotional, physical, behavioral, and spiritual responses (DeSpelder & Strickland, 2014). Although most children and adolescents bounce back from grief without professional intervention, childhood grief can have serious consequences if not addressed. These include short- and long-term effects including acting-out behavior; difficulties in school; developmental delays; higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and deviance; increased risk of mortality into early adulthood; and numerous other social and psychological issues (Berk, 2010; Berg, Rostila, Saarela, & Hjern, 2014; Dopp & Cain, 2012; Ellis, Dowrick, & Lloyd-Williams, 2013; Li et al., 2014; McClatchey, Vonk, & Palardy, 2009).

Although the landscape is slowly changing, there are still few resources available to children and adolescents who have experienced a loss. Most programs involve either individual counseling or support group meetings at a grief center, such as offered by Judi’s House in Denver, Colorado; Hope House in Astoria, Oregon; Kate’s Club in Atlanta, Georgia; or The Alcove Center for Grieving Children & Families in Margate, New Jersey. Other resources for bereaved children and adolescents are provided by local hospices that are mandated by Medicare to provide bereavement services to the patient’s family for up to one year after the death of a patient, however the family unit is defined by the patient.

One fairly new setting for addressing childhood bereavement is the camp setting. In the last 20 years, more than 350 healing camps, or grief camps, for bereaved children have been established and this number increases every year. Why are so many grief organizations interested in the camp setting?

Why a Camp Setting?

Until the current age of industrialization, nature was used for subsistence (Keniger, Gaston, Irvine, & Fuller, 2013). Today nature is for enjoyment and leisure (Fuller & Irvine, 2010). Keniger et al. (2013) describe three ways in which people interact with nature: indirect, incidental, and intentional. The indirect way includes viewing nature in pictures or through a window. The incidental way includes encountering nature while doing some other activity, such as driving through the countryside to visit somebody. The intentional way includes using nature for recreation, for example, canoeing, hiking, or gardening. The use of the camp setting for interventions with bereaved children would fall in the third category.

There are several noted benefits to spending time in nature. Nature provides free therapy without any side effects and improves cognitive functioning (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2008). Interacting with nature improves attention and memory (Berto, 2005). The camp setting has been credited with being a safe and caring environment that fosters honesty, trust, and respect. At the same time, the setting is not conducive to bullying (American Camp Association [ACA], 2005).

Outcome studies have shown that the camp setting helps campers make new friends and collaborate with others (ACA, 2005). Camp also helps foster teamwork among campers (Garst & Bruce, 2003). It helps increase independence among campers (ACA, 2005), and boosts self-esteem (Readdick & Schaller, 2005). Other positive outcomes from camp participation include strengthened values and social competence (Thurber, Scanlin, Scheuler, & Henderson, 2007). There is also a correlation between the camp experience and spiritual development among campers (Henderson, Oakleaf, & Bialeschki, 2009).

The camp environment lends itself particularly well to supporting grieving children. Children do not generally tolerate strong feelings for long periods of time, so alternations between grief activities and various camp activities, such as canoeing, hiking, archery, and kick-ball, provide needed relief from grief processing. Campers get the message that it is acceptable and desirable to have fun even though they are grieving. The camp setting also helps campers bond during the various recreational activities, which may help build trust for sharing during various grief activities. The most powerful impact of camp may be, however, the opportunity to meet other children and adolescents who have had similar experiences, which normalizes the bereaved campers’ situations.

Bereavement Camp History

One of the first bereavement camps in the United States still operating is Grief Camp, which is part of the Amanda the Panda program of HCI Care Services and Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa. It is a free weekend camp that started in 1982. Currently, there are two weekend camps a year. The Grief Camp began with children and teens but now also incorporates adults. Shortly thereafter, in 1988, El Tesoro de la Vida Grief Camp, part of Camp Fire USA First Texas Council, held its first session. This is a week-long sleep-away camp for children aged 6–17 and is fee-based. Ninety percent of the week is spent participating in traditional camp activities while the remaining 10% helps campers deal with their grief. In 1989 Shannon’s Hope Camp was begun by Bridges (formerly Hospice of Charleston) in South Carolina. The camp was named in honor of a teen who died in 1988, is currently held twice each year, and uses a weekend format in a beachfront setting. Children attending are aged 6–15. Camp HOPE in Wisconsin also began in 1989, in memory of the founders’ daughter. The camp serves teens and younger children with a parallel camp experience for parents. Camp HOPE is free of charge and weekends are scheduled variously in the spring, fall, and winter.

Other camps emerged throughout the United States in the early 1990s, and these have evolved in many different ways. The following is not a complete history of bereavement camps from the 1990’s onwards, but rather a representative sample. In 1990, Delaware Hospice’s Camp New Hope began with Saturday workshops, and by 1991 the first camp, with 12 campers, was held. The New Hope program has evolved with multiple services, and two free four day camps are now held each summer. Camp Evergreen was created by Hosparus Hospice in Kentucky in 1992. Although during the early years the focus was on children, the program changed to a family camp in 2004. Center for Hospice Care, serving eight counties in North Central Indiana, also calls its program Camp Evergreen. This annual free camp program started as a weekend camp in 1994 for 7–14-year-old bereaved youth. It has been modified to serve more children and currently offers a weekend camp for teens aged 13–17 and a day-long camp for children aged 6–12. Hospice Atlanta, a division of Visiting Nurse Health System, created Camp STARS (Share Together As Real Support) and held its first camp, free of charge, for bereaved children in 1994 in Georgia. The program is now community funded and family focused, and includes two family camps a year serving 160 to 220 participants in each camp. Losses grieved might include parents, siblings, or extended family members. Camp MAGIK (Mainly About Grief In Kids) was begun in 1995 and offers a free weekend camp three or four times a year for bereaved campers aged 6–17. It also serves the children’s parents/guardians in a parallel camp during the weekend. Camp MAGIK is one of the few freestanding nonprofit organizations that is not affiliated with a hospice program or bereavement center; it is funded primarily through private donations and through The Moyer Foundation’s Camp Erin program.

Many other camps came into being over the next 20 years. Although there are independent, freestanding camps, many more are affiliated with hospice organizations or bereavement centers. Some of the largest groups are either networks of camps, such as The Moyer Foundation’s Camp Erin; camps affiliated with a national hospice organization, such as Camp I Believe and Camp Kangaroo; or camps run in various locations with one camp model and organization, such as Comfort Zone Camp. The vast majority of the camps are free of charge to participating campers.

The Moyer Foundation, out of Seattle, Washington, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was founded in 2000 by Major League Baseball pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife Karen with an original mission to support children in distress. Two years later, in 2002, The Moyer Foundation launched Camp Erin, a national network of weekend bereavement camps for children and teens aged 6–17. Camp Erin was established in honor of Erin Metcalf, a teenage family friend who died from cancer at age 17. When hospitalized, Erin often expressed concern for the other children in the hospital as well as her own family and friends. At the time of this writing, Camp Erin is the largest bereavement camp program in the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Bereavement Camp Background
• 2 Theories of Childhood and Adolescent Grief
• 3 Interventions for Bereaved Children and Adolescents
• 4 Nonprofit Organization and Administration
• 5 Critical Components of Camp
• 6 Camp MAGIK and Other Models
• 7 Evaluation
• 8 Outcomes of Camp Interventions
• 9 Former Campers Returning as Volunteers
• Appendices
• Author Index
• Subject Index