Meagan Lockhart 
Next up, we’re going to have Rebecca speak with us from Dougy Center and learn a bit more about programs available.

Rebecca Hobbs 
Thank you. Yeah, I am with Dougy Center. We are the National Grief Center for Children and Families. Dougy Center started in 1982, over 40 years ago. And we were the first center of its kind to offer peer support, grief support for children based on a play model therapy way. One of the things that the kids that we started initially talking with have been really talking about their play as a way of being the primary language that they both process and express with. And so our model consist of both a talking portion where kids can learn coping skills, identifying support strategies, identifying feelings, things that are going to kind of be tools for their toolbox. But also we allowed them a lot of free time where they are self directed to go be able to play in either whatever expression rooms they want. So we have art rooms and big energy rooms, and hospital rooms, and sandbox and musics. So we have a lot of different ways for them to be able to process and express what those experiences are like for them. We offer at Dougy Center both bereavement support, which is what we really started with over 40 years ago, we have almost 30 ongoing peer support groups here in the Portland metro area of Oregon and southwest Washington. And we also, nine years ago, started our Pathways Program, which is for kids and teens who have an adult, parent, caregiver, guardian, or a sibling that has been diagnosed with what we call an advanced serious illness. It’s a terminal prognosis of anywhere from months to a few years out generally. And it really allows kids to be with kids, teens to be with teens, and we have an adult caregiver portion as well as adults living with illness support group. So kind of wraparound family support for kids when their parent is going through those last years of their illness. We are not Hospice. I want to say that we are not Hospice. And so many times families connect with us and say, I’m not ready to give up. And I always want to be so reassuring to them that this is not a group for those who are giving up. This is really a group support for families when the illness has advanced so far that their lives are really completely upside down. But there are those that are like I’m looking for that last treatment that’s going to help me and that I’m looking for whatever it is, and we want to maintain hope with them. And what we want to help them with is also transition their hope that when there is no longer hope for a cure, that there is hope for more days ahead that they can be with their families, more quality time, and really being more deliberate in choosing how they want to connect with the people that they love around them in the days that they have left. So Pathways is a powerful program we have. And then of course, our Bereavement Support is ages three through 18, and we have a young adult, multiple young adult groups as well, that meet both virtually and in person here. And then all of our kids and teen groups have a corresponding adult caregiver support too. Because we do know as research shows that if adult caregivers are feeling supported and able to cope better that their kids are doing better as well. So even though kids and teens are kind of what I say the golden ticket into Dougy Center, we offer lots of different ways of supporting their adult caregivers as well. For those interested in participating in an in person group, then we ask them to give us a call and we sign them up for an orientation. It’s just a way for us to be able to show kids and teens kind of what we do here and help them kind of be prepared to join a group. And then after that, we assign them to one of our many, many different groups. For our bereavement support, they are broken down into age. So we have littles three, four and five year olds. They’re adorable and bouncy. We have lots and lots of six to 12 year old groups. Those groups are the most that we have. And they are also broken down into different types of losses and deaths. So we have a chronic illness support. We do also offer healing from a suicide death, a violent death, a sudden death and also for siblings, groups just for kids that have had a brother or a sister die by any cause. And then we have our mothers and teen groups. So we offer lots and lots of different choices for families so that kids and teens can really make the choice that feels most connected and to them in being able to get that support. Our groups are ongoing for as long as a family feels like it’s supportive and helpful for them. In our Pathways groups, once the death has happened, they get to come back and say goodbye to families, which we have found to be invaluable to all of our participants. And then they can transition to a bereavement group. And for our bereavement groups, some kiddos come in for a short while and they don’t stay too long. I had a kiddo come in just recently, who after like six groups was like, I’m done, I’ve realized there’s other kids like me, and that’s all I needed to know. And then we have other kids and teens that they come for years, and we don’t put a time limit on their grief for them. As many of you have said, there are so many other challenges that our kids and teens are also facing that sometimes a parent or a siblin’s death is just one of many challenges they have. So being able to offer that support, sometimes up for years, is really important to families. And that is offered to families at no cost. So a family never has to pay for any of the support they receive here. We do realize that many of our families that would like to support Dougy Center and have those resources do not live in the Portland, Oregon metro area. So we do offer an extensive website. And I hope people can take a look at that. We have lots and when I say lots, it is lots and lots of resources, both for adults who are supporting kids and teens, as well as teachers and other school administrators. We have activities for kids of all ages on our website. Everything is downloadable so people can use them however they wish to. We have an extensive podcast listening for people who want to be in the car driving and just listen and get support that way, as well as additional resources. So I’m hoping that people can check out our website and call if they have any questions or information. There’s always a program staff person available to answer questions, and even just things like how do I tell my child that their parent is going to die, or their parent just died? I don’t have the language for that. And so a lot of our phone support, even from people in other states is offering words and encouragement and just that support to adults to be able to have those really, really hard conversations with their kids. Thank you.