#Gratitude
When children are grieving, it can be difficult to know how to best support them. Parents and caregivers are often also dealing with their own grief, and it’s common to feel overwhelmed. Dougy Center offers peer support groups for kids as young as age three through young adult, providing hope and healing tailored to their needs and developmental responses to grief.
Your support helps Dougy Center continue to provide critically important grief support and resources to families at no charge.
Charlie was devastated at age nine when his father, J.J., died of a brain tumor.
“Who’s going to take care of us now?” he shouted, through sobs. “Who's going to make us food and take us to school? Are we gonna get a stepdad? Mom, do you even know how to work the washing machine?!”
Charlie’s uncertainty and sorrow evolved into too much alone time in the basement; older brother Culby’s grief emerged through anger, often at their mother, Sara Bovitz, the physician breadwinner, who the children thought had the medical superpowers to save their beloved dad from his 13-year battle with cancer.
“I was so shattered when J.J. died; it was all I could to make sure the boys had pants on when they left for school,” said Sara. “I couldn't deal with anything except what was right in front of me. It was all hard to navigate.”
After a particularly intense round of shouting and door slamming, Sara reached out to Dougy Center.
“I realized that I didn't know what to do, and couldn't do it by myself, and that I needed help,” she said.
At Dougy Center, Charlie boldly splattered colors on the walls of the art room, experimented with costumes in the theater room, hugged giant stuffed animals, and thumped on instruments in the music room; Culby used the playground to shoot basket after basket. The boys partnered with trusted volunteers and staff, joined groups with kids of similar ages, and were encouraged to talk about their dad if they wished.
“I think Dougy Center was very helpful in offering us a community, and that's what I really enjoyed about it,” said Charlie.
“Grief can be so isolating, and the gift that Dougy Center gave both boys was an understanding that they were not alone in their grief; that the universe had not singled them out for pain, and that death is part of life,” said Sara. “To have an adult who’s not your parent, not a therapist, but someone who understands the situation and is there to help you crawl back out of the rabbit hole is such a feeling of safety.
“It was so helpful to be in a space designed especially for children, with people who understand grief and loss, even if you don’t necessarily know what that means for yourself yet. And to have time where I could lean into my own grief in a way that you can't as a parent because you have to be strong for your kids — that was also a gift. The volunteers at Dougy Center are lovely, beautiful spirits. The support for me was so amazing. Dougy Center definitely helped us find our sea legs during a time when we had no bearings.”
We're Grateful for your Support!
For children who are grieving, your support for Dougy Center can truly transform their lives. Your contribution supports a program proven to lessen social isolation and increase feelings of well-being for children of all ages.
Be a beacon of hope, a bright light for families, and a promise of healing and support to the children who are grieving. Your generosity ensures that children and teens have what they need to work through their grief in ways that support their emotional and social well-being.