Jersey City, NJ- Good Grief’s In Community program is now enrolling families and volunteers in our Jersey City location. In Community is a free, easily accessible peer support program for grieving children and families.
Isolation and loneliness are some of the most frequently experienced effects of grief and loss, but through In Community, grieving kids and adults get to be with others who truly understand their experience. “Good Grief is very supportive. The kids really love it and it’s helpful for them. It is nice to talk to people that are going through the same things,” said one mom participant.
Good Grief’s In Community program meets once a week for 9 weeks and is designed for children 6-18-years-old who have experienced the death of someone significant in their lives. Children participate in age-specific peer support groups, while their guardians receive peer support and learn resilient parenting techniques.
Through a variety of weekly activities, In Community equips children and families with the support and tools needed to face their grief and develop healthy coping strategies that promote resilience and hope. The program creates a caring environment for children and families during a very difficult and uncertain time.
“Good Grief has been a really wonderful experience. My girls love coming and it’s given them opportunities to open up and share with their peers and makes them feel less alone knowing other kids are in similar situations. We are very grateful to have this local option,” another mom participant reflected as she hugged her eldest daughter. Her daughter nodded and chimed in, “Good Grief helped me a lot. I learned to open up and talk to people – you never know what a person might be going through.”
Thanks to generous funding from The New York Life Foundation, In Community is free for families, and they can enroll as many times as they need the program. Our upcoming cycle is in partnership with Hamilton Park Montessori School and will begin in February 2019 on Thursday evenings.
To learn more about In Community, volunteer opportunities, or potential partnerships, please contact Whitney Allen: [email protected]
###
Good Grief is respected as a national leader in delivering grief services to children and their families. It is the leading provider of these services in New Jersey serving over 1,000 children since its founding in 2004. Good Grief is a registered 501(c) (3) tax-exempt non-profit organization whose mission is to provide unlimited free support to children, teens and families after the death of a parent or sibling. Servicing more than 150 communities, we operate programs in Morristown, Princeton, Jersey City, and Newark. For more information about Good Grief, please visit our web site www.good-grief.org.