The Caring Place: Children and Grieving

We know how devastating it can be when someone close to us dies. For children, too, when someone they love dies, their life changes forever.

If your family, or one you know is struggling to cope with a death, I found that help is just a phone call away at the Highmark Caring Place I got to meet some of the administrators and counselors, and get a tour of their offices in downtown Pittsburgh (there are other locations too ).

As soon as you walk in the front doors you feel hugged…surrounded by love and support. Maybe it’s the comfy furniture, children’s books, and big fish tank in the lobby. Maybe it’s the quilts that hang, lining the hallways…made of individual squares representing loved ones of families who have been helped by the Caring Place. Maybe it’s the large and ever-growing hand-painted tree mural on the wall featuring leaves with the names of each of the children who go through the grief program.

It’s impossible I think, not to be touched by the emotion that spills from the projects in each room. I learned that children and grief is a complex issue. Like us grown-ups, every child grieves in his or her own way…but, their age and stage of development can have a big impact on how the grieving process works.

One in twenty children will have a parent die by the time they turn 18. (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990)

Research on Bereaved Children shows that they:
-have higher levels of depression and anxiety
-have lower self-esteem
-show less optimism for success later in life
-have more accidents and health problems over time

We worked with Highmark Healthy High 5 to do a whole jennifer show on The Caring Place. If you’re in the Pittsburgh area, you can watch Sunday, June 28th at 11am on WTAE-TV, Channel 4 to find out more about how the program works, meet a family who’s been through it, and hear from experts on how we can help our children and our families after the loss of a loved one.

No worries if you’re not in our viewing area! We’ll post clips and information from the show at jenniferTVshow.com
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