Grief Kits
Greif Kits ~ A new project for Grief Care will be focusing on Children and Teens in the new year.
Laura VanHattem-Contant has been a busy elf looking through the many resources our collaborative team suggested and has selected books and resources to create two different “Kid Kits”.
Each kit will be geared for a specific age group with an assortment of books, activity ideas, journals, and a pack of items they can keep.
As Laura builds these kits, we are so mindful of how children process grief similarly and differently than adults. We often say that kids grieve like jumping in puddles – often with quick transitions between emotions, sometimes messy, and much better done with a buddy.
Kids also grieve more often in cycles, than in comparison to adults. Revisiting their grief as they age and transition into new stages of life themselves, they can grieve their losses in new and unexpected ways.
We heard directly from the teens we consulted that they were not really interested in hearing from someone “else” lecturing them on what grief was- so in their kits Laura is adding more self-directed opportunities, writing prompts, graphic novels and fiction which allow for a conversation about grief without staring it right in the eye. Like driving in a car- those conversations most often flow when space is given.
We are hoping these kits will open conversations, spark compassion, and cultivate intergenerational support.
Stay tuned in the new year to see an update as these Kids Kits are finished and heading out into our communities! ~contributed by Sarah Scott