A camper paints a piece for their loved one during an art therapy craft at Camp Hope in 2023. Photo provided by Cara Allebach.

By Madison Hart
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — People say kids are resilient, but Cara Allebach, camp coordinator at Camp Hope, says they still need support and guidance to process grief.

“Kids can go overlooked in times of grief,” Allebach said. “Grief is so different for everyone and so complicated—for adults, let alone with a child’s mind, trying to understand that loss.”

Camp Hope returns for its fourth year to help children entering first grade through seventh grade gain grief coping skills and process the loss of a loved one. This camp will take place at Warsaw Community Church from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 16 to 18. Registration is open until Monday, July 1.

The camp will include activities such as art therapy, music therapy, yoga techniques, reading and small group discussion. Allebach says the activities’ goals are to provide natural segues for kids to open up about their own experiences.

“You can’t heal what you don’t feel,” said Allebach. “The more we stuff it away and compartmentalize it, the more it can come out in other areas of our life … it could impact (a child’s) ability to learn at school, relationships, friendships, connections to caregivers…”

Allebach, who is also a mental health therapist at Warsaw Community Schools, says that one of the best things to come out of the camp in previous years is kids building connections with others who have experienced similar losses, allowing them to open up about their feelings.

“Kids need to not feel alone,” said Allebach. “All the feelings that come with it: guilt, sadness, anger. There can be relief, confusion that they have to figure out how to process … We want to give kids healthy strategies to cope with life. Talking about it and getting it out in the open is the most helpful way to processing it.”

Camp Hope is an offshoot of Ryan’s Place, a grief services organization based in Goshen, who has provided school-based grief group services to Kosciusko County for over 10 years. The camp is free thanks to funding from the United Way, whose aim is to expand grief services in Kosciusko County.

Transportation is available for students of Warsaw Community Schools.

Lunch is provided.

Anyone interested in volunteering for Camp Hope or future school-based groups, contact Ryan’s Place online or call (574) 535-1000.