NEWS RELEASES

NEWS ARCHIVE

EXPERTS GUIDE

FEATURED PHOTOS

IN THE NEWS

LOG NEWSLETTER

CHANCELLOR'S FYI

INSIDE MAGAZINE

In the News Archive - Year:
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998

Reprinted from: Green Bay Press-Gazette
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/

August 5, 2006

Camp guides kids through grieving

UWGB program is more support than therapy

By Kelly McBride
kmcbride@greenbaypressgazette.com

The kids at Camp Lloyd trickle in, one or two at a time, with the not-in-school nonchalance that's characteristic of summer vacations and holiday breaks.

But the campers are typical kids in not-so-typical circumstances. They're all grieving after the loss of a loved one, and the inaugural year of Camp Lloyd is helping them cope.

"Mostly, the camp, it's not really therapy. We're not really there to provide therapy," said Illene Noppe, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay professor of human development who brought the camp to life. "It's more to provide support, and more than anything else, it's to provide a normalization of their experience — so they can see there are other kids who feel like them."

That was the message for the nine children, ages 5 to 13, who wrapped up their Camp Lloyd experience Friday. The camp, offered by UWGB in conjunction with Unity Hospice, was part fun activities and part focus on coping.

The camp is named for Lloyd Noppe, Illene's husband and fellow UWGB professor of human development. Lloyd's father died in a car accident when Lloyd was 8 years old, he said, so he understands the pain and isolation of loss at such a young age.

Missing mom

It's a loss that's still fresh for 11-year-old Miriam Palacios and her three younger siblings. Their mom, Silvia, died in April. The four Palacios kids — Miriam, 8-year-old twins Jasmine and Melissa and younger brother Victor, 5 — attended Camp Lloyd.

"They're trying to help us through what happened with one of our family (members)," said Miriam, a soon-to-be sixth-grader at Green Bay's Edison Middle School. "We've been bringing pictures, and we've been talking about what happened to them and what we felt."

Through structured "grief activities," campers were encouraged to connect with one another and with their UWGB student buddies during the camp's one-week run.

After their outside games Thursday, the other campers listened as Miriam talked about the contents of her hand-decorated wooden "memory box."

"My mom wore this when she got married," Miriam said, holding up a necklace. A picture also made its way into the box after her craned-neck cohorts strained to have a look.

The memory box activity gathered all the children together, while some of the sessions split older — and generally more verbal — campers from their younger counterparts.

Whether during grief activities or normal camp play, one of the most important lessons campers can learn is that fun is allowed, organizers said.

"I always say, laughter and tears are two sides of the same coin," said Lisa De Sieno, director of outreach for Unity Hospice. "It's all a release. ... We really want them to know it's OK to have fun, and that's why the activities here (reflect) that — but (it's) also a private time to talk about their feelings."

There to learn

While Camp Lloyd is designed to be a safe, healing place for the kids who attend, it's also a hands-on experience for human development students at UWGB, Illene Noppe said.

Students received internship credit for helping to plan and act as counselors for the one-week camp. And the bonds they formed with their camper buddies were almost instant, many said.

UWGB senior Michelle Tomich paired with Miriam for the duration of Camp Lloyd's inaugural week. Their bond was, perhaps, most evident from Miriam's memory box, where she penned not only her name, but Tomich's as well.

And while the camp's focus was a challenge, helping students brought its own rewards, said recent UWGB grad Michelle Miller.

Miller helped plan the camp and will start a counseling graduate school program in the fall. But she plans to return for the next Camp Lloyd.

"Having the opportunity to do that here was a huge blessing," she said. "Emotionally, it's been more of a joy to kind of see that — (to know the) kids are getting help."

On the Net

Unity Hospice offers a number of support groups for those who are grieving. One of those programs, Unity's Special Days for Kids, is a grief support group of kids from preschool through high school. For information on that group and others, visit www.unity hospice.org.

About Camp Lloyd

• Camp Lloyd, a bereavement camp on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, wrapped up its inaugural session Friday.
• The camp was the brainchild of UWGB human development professor Illene Noppe, who got the idea at a professional conference five years ago. It is named for Noppe's husband Lloyd, whose father died in a car accident when Lloyd was 8 years old.
• UWGB paired with Unity Hospice for the weeklong camp. Illene Noppe was joined by some of her students and Unity grief counseling staff to provide a combination of regular camp activities and "grief activities" that encouraged campers to share their feelings.
• Nine children, ranging in age from 5 to 13, attended the first Camp Lloyd. Each has experienced the death of someone close, such as a parent or sibling.

Grieving kids

It's difficult to quantify how many children are dealing with the death of a parent or sibling, but a U.S. Census Bureau report from 2005 offers a glimpse of the issue nationwide. According to that report:
• An estimated 105,000 children were living with a mother who had been widowed within the last year in 2001.
• An estimated 32,000 children were living with a father who had been widowed within the last year in 2001.
— U.S. Census Bureau