Mortality rates for adults in their 40s and 50s have risen dramatically in the past two decades, ![\"Buddy's](\"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/BP-color-logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
making it more likely that children will experience the death of a parent or loved one. Indeed, one in five children will experience the death of someone close to them by the time they graduate high school. That death will represent a significant lifelong loss\u2014but it does not mean the child won\u2019t live a happy and full life. They may need to slowly adapt, but children and adults have a natural ability to heal loss when given a safe and supportive environment.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where childhood bereavement programs come in. Such programs help children digest the truth of what has happened, while placing them among other children and families whose loved ones have also died.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething amazing happens when kids get around other kids who are experiencing grief,\u201d says Michelle Halm, MA, MEd, director of Pillars\u2019 Buddy\u2019s Place, a grief support program based in Western Springs. \u201cResearch indicates that grieving children often feel less alone when they can be with others who have experienced the death of someone close to them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One of the longer-standing programs in the Chicago suburbs, Buddy\u2019s Place. <\/a><\/strong>is celebrating its 15-year anniversary in September 2015. The program provides support groups, education, and outings for children, teens, and their families, with a focus on helping each child grieve in their own way.<\/p>\n
Linda Moran, MS, LCPC, Buddy\u2019s Place founder and director emeritus, was inspired to create the program because of her own personal experiences with childhood grief. Her father died when she was 14. Years later, her sister died, leaving behind two young sons. Moran returned to school to complete her counseling degree and began working for Pillars (then known as Community Family Service and Mental Health Association) as a therapist. In 1999, she completed a formal needs assessment, determining there was a need for a family-centered bereavement program in the western suburbs. In 2000, with a three-year start-up grant from Community Memorial Foundation<\/strong><\/a>, Moran and Pillars launched the program.<\/p>\n
Today, Buddy\u2019s Place services are offered at no cost to participants, thanks to ongoing funding from the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission <\/strong><\/a>and donations from individuals and organizations. Children and teens can participate in an 8-week group session while the adult caregivers meet separately to learn how to help the children work through their grief. Buddy\u2019s Place also offers a Monthly Gathering <\/a><\/strong>where families can share a meal and work on a grief-related project together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing program. Unfortunately, there are too many families who have a loved one die and are unaware there are programs nearby that can offer support,\u201d Halm says. \u201cDeath is the one certain thing we all face but as a society we are terrified to talk about it\u2014and that\u2019s contributing to a lack of awareness about programs like ours.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the longer-standing programs in the Chicago suburbs, Buddy\u2019s Place is celebrating its 15-year anniversary in September 2015.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pillarscommunityhealth.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}