There’s nothing like a good water balloon fight to clear one’s head.
Especially when your head still has bits of rubber clinging to it from your new friend’s thrown balloon that hit you a few seconds earlier.
But it wasn’t all water balloons at Camp Courage Thursday. Held at Hendrick Hospice Care, the long-running annual camp each summer teaches children strategies on how to process the loss of a loved one.
“Our purpose is to acknowledge and affirm the reality of children’s grief,” Adrianna Golden-Smith, camp director, said. “Kiddos experience loss and the wide breadth of all that comes with that experience in small bodies but in large ways.”
The week-long course is open to children who are entering the third grade to high school seniors. This year’s camp featured about 40 kids.
Kannon Deen-Garrett, 11, pours a small traffic cone’s-worth of water behind him for Paizley Esler, 12, to catch during a game at Camp Courage Thursday. Hendrick Health’s week-long annual workshop empowers children with skills and strategies for coping with the loss of a loved one.
To process grief, you need to understand it. Camp Courage asks the children to explore the nature of grief, how it is expressed, what it can physically feel like and its relationship with guilt, anger and regret.
“We recognize that we only get five days with them, and then they go home and continue their lives, and their grief never leaves,” Golden-Smith said. “So, we focus on sustainability — giving them coping skills that are accessible and portable.”
That can be by using pencil and paper to write or draw it, as well as healthy physical activity to pull attention away from intense emotions for a mental break. Remaining connected to that lost loved one is also emphasized.
Rhiannon Rodriguez, 10, spreads her fingers wide for a catch in a water balloon toss game during Camp Courage Thursday.
“I do have some kids that come back year after year. As they develop and grow, sometimes that grief changes with them, and so they’ve got different things that they need to explore,” she said. “Or, unfortunately, sometimes life keeps coming, and they’ve got additional losses that they are also needing to process.”
The program is funded by the Children’s Miracle Network, and aside from a $10 registration, is free of charge to attending children.
“And I will waive that in a heartbeat if it’s a financial hardship,” she said.
Golden-Smith, who is also the bereavement coordinator for Hendrick Hospice, said the organization also offers a morning adult caregiver support group that meets Monday through Thursday each week.
“We want to give our caregivers the opportunity to also learn about children’s grief and have a space to connect with others who are grieving their own loss and trying to support their kiddos,” she said.
A camper reaches for a water balloon during a game at Camp Courage Thursday.
Courage isn’t limited to one week in the summer, however.
“We also have other programs throughout the year,” Golden-Smith said. “We’ve got a six-week children’s grief support group that meets in the spring and the fall called Club Courage, as well as a holiday grief workshop for families. And then lots of adult programs as well.”
Visit the Hendrick Hospice Care website for more information.
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This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Water games help keep children afloat at Hendrick Hospice Camp Courage