WHAT CAN YOU DO to help a child or teenager who has experienced the death of someone very close – a parent or other primary caregiver, a sister, or a brother?

You can help that youngster find a safe place in which to grieve in the company of other kids who know what it’s like, because they’re grieving, too.

Children’s Friend has created that safe place. It’s called, “The Carriage House.” The Carriage House is a grief support center for kids from 3 to 18 years old and their families.

At The Carriage House, we believe

How are participants assigned to groups?
Children and teens enter age-appropriate groups after all their registration forms have been completed, as spaces become available.

When do groups meet?
The peer support groups at The Carriage House meet every other week. Sessions run for an hour and a half, except for groups of very young children, which generally last an hour and a quarter. Staff and volunteer facilitators, all of whom have been through intensive training in grief support for young people, lead the groups. While the children and teens are in their peer groups in The Carriage House, the grownups in their lives are offered adult grief support in our administration building across the street.

Is there any charge?
There is no charge for any family’s participation in The Carriage House, but everyone is invited to make a tax deductible contribution to Children’s Friend to support the work of this unique central Massachusetts program.

Volunteer Opportunities
Our next round of Volunteer Training has not yet been scheduled for 2008. Please call Dr. Johanna Sagarin or Karen E. Ludington, at 508-753-5425, to learn more about volunteer training or for more information.

Helping kids who have experienced the death of someone close to them is a wonderful and satisfying way to make a difference. Our volunteer peer group facilitators make a big commitment – twenty-five hours of training, three and a half hours of their time every other week (except for six weeks in the summer) for at least a year, plus the gifts of their life experiences, their minds and their hearts.

Information and Registration
If you would like to find out more or register a child for The Carriage House, please call Children’s Friend at 508-753-5425, and ask for Dr. Johanna Sagarin or Karen Ludington. The first step in joining The Carriage House is a telephone intake, during which basic information about the family is collected. Each family is then scheduled for an orientation session at The Carriage House, so everyone can learn what it would be like to participate. If a family is interested in joining, additional paperwork has to be completed. Families are then assigned to groups as space becomes available.

Web resources for Children’s Grief and Loss
For additional resources and information, we’ve compiled a list of web links for children’s grief and loss.

www.parmenter.org – Quicklinks Heartplay and Wayside Hospice

www.jordanhospital.org – Cranberry Hospice

www.goodgriefprogram.org – The Circle

www.childrensroom.org – The Children’s Room

www.garden-cgc.org – The Garden

www.southshorehospital.org – Home Health Care: Hospice of the South Shore