Where children learn to grieve and heal.

Insider updates from the Camp Erin Department.

Thanks for stopping by the Camp Erin Blog! You will not only find the most up to date info happening with Camp Erins across the country, but also some great resources and applicable information for grieving families.

Camp Erin is the largest bereavement camp in the country - designed for youth ages 6-17 who are grieving the loss of someone close to them. It is a weekend-long experience filled with traditional, fun, camp activities combined with grief education and emotional support — facilitated by grief professionals and trained volunteers from local hospice and grief counseling agencies. Camp Erin is the largest network of bereavement camps in the United States with 36 camps in 23 states. More than 2,500 greiving children and teens will receive the healing experience of Camp Erin this year!


June 2, 2010

Music therapy as a healing device


Ever consider music therapy as a way for your child to cope? Melina Roberts wrote about her experience as a music therapy instructor for bereaved children, and the great benefit it brings.

She noticed that children used music therapy sessions for:

  • diversion and fun – to escape the grief that had impacted their lives and their homes
  • self expression – to explore and express what thoughts and feelings had been evoked by grief
  • an opportunity to ask questions – particularly questions about grief that the children couldn’t ask of their Mom or Dad for fear of making them cry
  • an opportunity to remember their loved one – to express memories about their deceased loved ones
  • an opportunity to speak about being excluded from bereavement activities – for example, when two children, a brother and sister, were not allowed to attend their grandmother’s funeral
  • an opportunity to explore and express spiritual beliefs – opportunities to make music, sing and draw about what happens to loved ones after they die
  • an opportunity to talk about the impact of grief – opportunities to highlight the past and the present and how grief had caused changes in their lives.

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