To Show Other Kids You Understand

This doesn’t exactly fit our bucket-list-story mold, but we couldn’t help but share it. As we’ve said before, most of our bucket-list wishes come to us in response to the question, “What’s most important to you today?” We didn’t ask that question of these teenagers, but still they told us how important it was to them to help other kids through a loss. After all, who better than a teenager who’s been through it herself?

Have you ever tried to buy a sympathy card for a child or teenager who’s lost a loved one? It’s very hard to find something that fits.

Handmade sympathy card made by teen who has lost a loved one.

Our bereavement coordinator, Nora Brashear, LCSW, recently went in search of such cards. When she came back empty-handed, she decided to go to the experts.

Luckily, we have access to some brilliant teens who’ve been through it and know first-hand what works. Nora asked two of them what they found most helpful, and they agreed that the homemade cards they received from other kids were the ones that most lightened the load.

Two of these teenagers talked with Nora about making cards for our hospice to use with children.  One is a 13-year-old who lost a parent suddenly a few years ago. Another is a 17-year-old who recently lost a sibling. Both of them have received grief counseling through our Bereavement Outreach program, and both were delighted to put their arts-and-crafts skills to work for other kids who are grieving.

Handmade sympathy card made by teen who wants to help another through loss.

Nora used grant funds to purchase the card-making supplies, gave them to the two teens, and they went to work. These photos are of the first set of cards they’ve completed. We thought they did an outstanding job!

Nora and the rest of our bereavement staff will use the cards with the children of our hospice patients, and also with children in the community who come to us for grief and loss support.

We’re so happy to have these cards on-hand, but we’re even happier that two special teens used their own losses to help make another child’s loss a bit easier.

Handmade sympathy card made by teen who has lost loved ones.