A camp with an unique format to help the mourning children

A death of a close person is a situation, which is very difficult for a child to cope with alone. Since 1995, the Children and Youth Crisis Program has focused on families with children where there a close member of their family has been deceased. Over the years, we have established a working camp format that is unique in the world, where the mourning kids can share their experiences and grief with their peers, consult with experienced professional psychologists and group leaders to address what happened and to learn learn different ways of coping in the world.

"My 12-year-old son, who lost his father in an accident, participated in the Children and Youth Crisis Program's support camps. Both the summer and the fall camp left on him an indelible impression. What makes this camp special is the fact that a child is involved in it as in a normal camp for children, but the difference is that after returning from the camp, child has begun to understand better the meaning of death as such, he has learned to accept the loss and gained knowledge of how to move on. Most importantly, from the child's point of view - it wasn't taught him in a dry lecture, but this knowledge came to him through the activities carried out by professionals. Most surprising was the fact that my child taught me tricks on how to cope with grief and look to the future. I can see my child now and feel the positive effect on his behavior received from those grief camps, to his learning and attitute on everyday life!" /A mother from Tartu/

Every year hundreds of children lose their loved ones  as a result of diseases or as a cause of traumatic circumstances. "Unfortunately, despite years of effort the association still do not have a permanent national financing to assist those children. In order to continue our activities the donations gathered from the "I Love to Help" environment are extremely important," said Merike Sarapuu, a Member of the Board of the NGO Children and Youth Crisis Program.

The donations received through the environment make up a large, and often an urgent help to support children's grief camps. Every year we organize three grief support camps, in every camp will attend 45 children in grief. For the families all the camps and associated activities are free of charge. The costs are partially covered by local governments. The donations are used to offer the campers free accommodation, meals, camp transportation, camp facilities (workshops of creative work, crafts and arts). 

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