Community Collaboration
KinderMourn provides hope for bereaved parents, grieving children and teens by offering support and counseling programs, creating awareness of bereavement issues and empowering the community to effectively assist those who have suffered an unthinkable loss.
Brittany facilitates groups of all ages both in the school setting as well as at the KinderMourn home.
KinderMourn recognizes that many of our community’s most vulnerable youth are unable to attend support groups at the KinderMourn Home. In 1994, due to this reality and the growing number of children impacted by grief and loss, the agency established Helping The Hurt, an outreach program providing support and hope to children and teens. During the school year, Brittany is a facilitator for the Helping the Hurt Program.
Helping The Hurt offers on-site grief support for elementary, middle, and high school youth in area schools. Helping The Hurt support groups are presently provided in Charlotte Mecklenburg and Fort Mill public school systems. Through generous donations from foundations and United Way, Helping The Hurt is offered at no cost to participants.
Kindermourn
Wonders & Worries provides free, professional support for children and teenagers ages 2-18 who are experiencing a parent’s serious illness or injury so that they can reach their full potential. The Illness Education and Coping Curriculum is clinically validated and professionally delivered by Certified Child Life Specialists. It is free to families and available in Spanish and English.
Since 2001, Wonders & Worries has provided children and teenagers with an age-appropriate understanding of illness, treatments, and side effects; strategies for expressing their feelings related to changes in the family; and skills for coping with stress, anger, sadness, and fear. The copyrighted and clinically validated Illness Education and Coping Curriculum promotes healthy short-term and long-term coping and results in improved communication skills, reduced anxiety, increased feeling of security at home, and improved school performance. In addition, Wonders & Worries provides a multitude of informational and supportive resources for parents and continuing education opportunities for professionals nationwide.
What do families say about this group?
“This program has been a blessing for our family. The support, love, and joy that E experiences here mean so much to us, and we are truly grateful.”
“Thank you for all you are doing and continue to do for H and our family. The W&W group has been more than we could have hoped for.”
Wonders & Worries
We are currently partnering with Foster Village Charlotte as we create a sibling program focused on "forever children" in a home where children in foster care come and go.
In the Spring of 2022, we created a 3 session pilot group and are now excited to expand this offering as year-round support for families. This special therapeutic group is the first of its kind to include a space for parents, forever children, and children in foster care to process, play, and build community.
What do families say about this group?
"We have experienced great loss in our home and realized that our forever children live a life unlike their friends and it is hard for them to be seen through this hard system. This was a way for them to connect with other kiddos who understand the life of fostering and what it means to be a foster sibling"
"I just think this transition has been so focused on the foster kiddos that it's easy to forget how this impacts our forever children. Love an opportunity to focus on them and how they are feeling."
"We have been longing for a way to support our kiddos who are such a HUGE part of our family's foster care journey. They love their sisters and brother and they need a way to understand and process the love and attachment and grief of farewell that is appropriate for children. And being in a community with other forever kiddos helped them connect and feel less isolated."
