The Dougy center, The national center for grieving children and families
my work: supporting children & Families
Hello, my name is Rachel and I'm a community health education student here at PSU. I have always been interested in the concept of helping people heal in safe spaces. For me, this expression of healing is emotional support. As a volunteer group facilitator, I support children in processing their grief, but it is the work of the children, through play and being with their peers, that truly makes the Dougy Center a special place.
How Do I advocate for children & Families?
Learning how we can help others as they navigate a loss is one of the prominent features of the Dougy Center's support services. Here, it's okay to talk about the person who died. We know that grief looks different for different people. The Dougy Center cultivates acceptance of grief. We don't fear the range of emotions. We listen, we reflect, and we don't make assumptions about anyone's experience. The Dougy Center supports individual expressions of grief. We advocate for children and teens to be able to grieve in their own way.
History of the Dougy Center
- Founded in 1982, the center is the first U.S. support group for grieving children.
- Dougy Turno, a child with an advanced serious illness, came to OHSU for treatment. He noticed that there were no books for children facing death. He wrote to renowned Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, an expert in the field of death, dying and bereavement.
- Beverly Chappell worked with Dougy and his family at OHSU. She noticed how well Dougy and his peers, also facing serious medical issues, supported each other. She envisioned a place where children and their families could come together, be in support of each other because of their shared experience.
How it works
The Dougy Center serves families as they navigate the loss of a loved one. Families are not charged for groups, and they can come for as long as they want.
70 open-ended peer support groups meet every other week, organized by age, type of death (illness, sudden death, murder, suicide) and the person who died. The children meet together, and concurrently, their care-givers meet in a separate group. |
The Dougy Center's grief support group model is nationally and internationally recognized. Their model has been replicated through trainings as they share their expertise locally and nationally with agencies that can use this model to benefit their communities.
Since 1982, the Dougy Center has served 45,000 children and families. |
REflections of a volunteer group facilitator
My experience volunteering at the Dougy Center supports an approach to helping people achieve mental, physical and emotional health. I'm part of a team of volunteers, and we have all been through extensive, mandatory training. This training prepared me for assisting children and families as they navigate the grief process. I value the way the Dougy Center helped me feel necessary and included by being so organized in the training process. The training facilitates an understanding of why we are here and how we are serving this community. It also values our own individual grief journeys.
As a group facilitator in the groups that I serve, my job is essentially to be with the kids. I listen, reflect, and assist the kids in play in the various rooms at the center, or in the outdoor play structure. Groups are held every other week, and I participate in two different groups. Something I value about the Dougy Center is it's appreciation of the volunteers through pre-meeting and post-meeting. The meeting time is the time with the kids, but pre-meeting is time that the volunteers share thoughts, feelings or stories from their day. This helps us unwind, and prepares us to be emotionally and mentally present with the kids. This also facilitates a strong bond among the volunteers. The post-meeting is a time that allows us to decompress from the meeting, and also share thoughts and feelings from the meeting. These three distinct parts of a volunteer session flow together so nicely and contribute to sense of connection and community.
As a group facilitator in the groups that I serve, my job is essentially to be with the kids. I listen, reflect, and assist the kids in play in the various rooms at the center, or in the outdoor play structure. Groups are held every other week, and I participate in two different groups. Something I value about the Dougy Center is it's appreciation of the volunteers through pre-meeting and post-meeting. The meeting time is the time with the kids, but pre-meeting is time that the volunteers share thoughts, feelings or stories from their day. This helps us unwind, and prepares us to be emotionally and mentally present with the kids. This also facilitates a strong bond among the volunteers. The post-meeting is a time that allows us to decompress from the meeting, and also share thoughts and feelings from the meeting. These three distinct parts of a volunteer session flow together so nicely and contribute to sense of connection and community.
dougycenterwelcomeposter.pdf |