{"id":34714,"date":"2024-06-18T18:03:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T22:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34714"},"modified":"2024-06-27T16:28:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T20:28:29","slug":"hope-house-offers-warm-huug-for-bereaved-kids-and-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/hope-house-offers-warm-huug-for-bereaved-kids-and-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope House offers warm \u201cHUUG\u201d for bereaved kids and families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illness and death are difficult subjects for anyone to talk about, particularly youngsters who might not be able to fully comprehend what it means \u2013 but Sunny and Smooch are here to help York Region kids and their families cope with the unknowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Puppets Sunny and Smooch, along with their human, Child Life Specialist Julie Zinn, are now in place at Hope House Community Hospice, to help the Aurora-based organization give the community a warm hug in the form of HUUG \u2013 Help Us Understand Grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HUUG model originated at Hospice Mississauga to support children and family members experiencing life-limiting illness and bereavement so they don\u2019t have to go alone on this difficult journey. The local program, which is open to all York Region families free of charge, will be formally launched at a special open house set for this Thursday, June 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy role as a Child Life Specialist is to really empower or equip children, youth and their families to have a sense of agency or control over the situations that are otherwise kind of not really within anyone\u2019s control, and promote coping, expression, and give the tools and just know that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d says Zinn. \u201cOne in 14 kids will experience the death of a parent or a sibling before they turn 18, so these kids aren\u2019t alone and they do need support. Being able to bring them together to support each other, but also receive support from myself and our Hospice, is really what we\u2019re hoping to share with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kids, says Zinn, often experience what they describe as \u201cpuddle-jumping\u201d when experiencing grief. In one moment, a child can \u201cexperience big emotions like anger\u201d related to their grief and, very quickly, go back to playing and having fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see they jump out of the grief \u2018puddle\u2019 and then they jump right back out to what they were doing. It\u2019s this natural, beautiful tendency that kids have, but it is also because they can\u2019t tolerate that big emotion for too long. As adults, we don\u2019t really have this beautiful tendency as much as it might be helpful and it is like a river that we\u2019re wading through. People don\u2019t necessarily realize [that and wonder] if they should be worried about their children. I think that can be an eye-opener, and it\u2019s also about supporting kids in that; if they are in the puddle, you can meet them there, hear them and support them there \u2013 and allow them to express openly what they\u2019re feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope House Hospice is bringing the HUUG program to the local community thanks to a two-year grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heidi Bonner, Executive Director of Hope House, says that while they have offered child and youth bereavement programs in the past, being one of the first in Ontario to do so, the HUUG program brings new skills and tools into their arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has always been a need for kids whose parents have been diagnosed with illness \u2013 we call them \u2018young carers\u2019 \u2013 trying to support them through the process, trying to support the parents to help them support their kids and what to expect, and what medical equipment or procedures might look like to be able to explain those pieces to a child or youth in ways they understand,\u201d says Bonner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s where the expertise of a Child Life Specialist comes into play. It\u2019s a really important piece of support that we will be able to provide with Julie and the HUUG program. These young carers, kids who are coping with a parent or grandparent that are facing serious illness, will be able to provide a really great program, empower them, and make things less scary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Pandemic, Bonner adds that their sector is seeing more \u201ccomplex\u201d needs when it comes to grief support. Not being able to be with a loved one who was at end-of-life at the height of COVID, and not having that support network in place, has \u201cchanged the environment in terms of grief and bereavement support\u201d and the need for counselling, as well as group and peer support, has increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a Child Life Specialist is a newly-emerging field, but it is growing across the hospital and hospice systems. It wasn\u2019t only designed to give kids more \u201cagency and control\u201d over the situation, but to cut through medical jargon or what Zinn describes as \u201cpeople talking down to you on what you\u2019re experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt brings the child to the table and helps advocate for them and have them advocate for themselves and just offer preparation for what they might see, hear, feel, smell, and how do they want to express [themselves],\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s moving into community settings like hospices, schools, other community agencies, to provide those same sorts of supports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It lets kids have a say in matters that concern them, find ways to articulate how they are feeling, how to cope, and it offers services through \u201ca family lens\u201d as well, she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if kids are not comfortable talking face to face to a specialist like Zinn, the cuddly Sunny and the furry Smooch, have strong listening ears \u2013 even if the ears are hard to spot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out if the HUUG program is right for you, come out to Hope House Hospice (350 Industrial Parkway South) on June 20 from 3.30 \u2013 6.30 p.m., to meet Heidi, Julie, Sunny, Smooch and the rest of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The open house will feature hands-on craft activities, exercises on what \u201chope\u201d means to each individual, and opportunities to reflect on loss. Thanks to the Children\u2019s Grief Network, Hope House will also distribute specially curated Grief Kits free of charge, each of which contains \u201citems to assist children and youth in their grief journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this week\u2019s Open House, Hope House will also offer a HUUG Kid\u2019s Summer Day Camp for bereaved children between the ages of seven and 12 from July 15 \u2013 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s an opportunity for community members, for professionals who are working in the medical field and working with teens and children, to see what we offer, but there will be an experiential component as well,\u201d says Bonner. \u201cIf there are children who are coping with the death of a loved one or with a serious illness of a loved one, there will be opportunities to dip their toe in and see what it\u2019s about, meet the puppets, and maybe get familiar with the space so if they were to come back and participate in a program they will have already been here and know familiar faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s open to everybody and there will be opportunities for them to feel supported and less alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information, visit hopehousehospice.com or call 905-727-6815.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open house set for this Thursday, June 20. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2024-06-18-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-91U","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 20:23:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}