Walk to Remember helps grieving children

OAKLAND, Calif. - May 7, 2015 - PRLog -- On May 9th, 2015, from 10am to 2pm East Bay Agency for Children (EBAC) is hosting the 6th Annual Walk to Remember at Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.  This event gives families and friends the opportunity to celebrate their loved ones who have died or are struggling with illness. www.ebac.org/walk

The Walk to Remember is also a fundraiser for the Circle of Care program, which for over 30 years has helped heal and support grieving children and their families. No child should have to navigate this difficult journey alone.

Isolation and feelings of being different greatly impact grieving children as other children and even most adults don’t know how to appropriately act around them. Children process emotions through play and art more than through talking. Circle of Care gives children the healthy space to be with other kids their age who have also lost a parent or sibling.

[QUOTE} “Circle of Care's support groups have been essential to my family's managing during my wife's illness and death from cancer. They provided my daughter a comfortable environment to work through her emotions and grief. They provided my wife and me the chance to discuss and consider the previously unthinkable, and to recognize and process our own feelings. There are so few opportunities in our fast paced culture to talk about illness, death and grief, and Circle of Care's groups gave us a chance to consider all aspects of this, the dark and the light, while connecting with others in the community facing similar challenges. It was a vital resource that helped each of us maintain perspective and balance.”A parent participant (name withheld for privacy reasons).

About Circle of Care

Since its inception in 1982, Circle of Care has been one of the few programs in the country, and the only program of its kind in the East Bay, devoted exclusively to children and families coping with illness, grief, and loss.  For more than three decades, Circle of Care has been supporting children and families coping with life threatening illness or the death of a loved one.

Circle of Care has earned a reputation among families, service providers, and mental health professionals as a unique and effective approach to supporting children and their families while they cope with illness and loss and build resiliency. Circle of Care works with the family as a whole unit, simultaneously, and for as long as they need it.

In specialized peer support groups, individual and family counseling and age appropriate activities, children and families are supported in the process of coping with and healing of these traumatic experiences.  Circle of Care bi-weekly peer support groups, for toddlers, elementary school children, teenagers and adults, are offered simultaneously with all family members/caregivers attending.  Themed art and play activities are integrated into groups for younger children, while adults groups share their feelings as well as practical strategies. In addition to the peer support groups, individual and family counseling is also available to children and families. We also offer community and school trainings as well as outreach. Services are offered at low cost, on a sliding scale based on financial means, and no one is ever turned away due to lack of funds.

East Bay Agency for Children

Founded in 1952, EBAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the well-being of children, youth and families by reducing the impact of trauma and social inequities. EBAC is committed to building a comprehensive, place-based continuum of accessible, trauma-informed and culturally relevant services that build resiliency, aid in recovery, and, where possible, prevent exposure to adverse childhood experiences. We seek to reduce barriers that contribute to disparities in wellness for socio-economically disadvantaged and racially marginalized families. EBAC has grown from one program serving 18 children into an agency serving 20,000 East Bay children and their families annually. The majority served has experienced or is currently experiencing complex trauma; 95% are low-income; and nearly all are from communities of color (majority African American, Limited English Proficient (LEP), newly immigrated, refugees and/or migrants).

East Bay Agency for Children provides students experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties, vital mental health counseling and specialized educational services. The goal is to enable these children who are mostly from low-income families to build on their intrinsic strengths, stay in school, and overcome the obstacles that could keep them from being successful in school and in life. To ensure children’s continued progress in school, East Bay Agency for Children also provides their families with intensive assistance in accessing community and public resources. For the larger community, EBAC works to improve student wellbeing and achievement through after-school programs, parent support services, child assault prevention classes, and grief and illness support programs.

For more information about EBAC, our programs and our achievements, please visit us at www.EBAC.org and on Facebook.