Dr. Victoria Arthur is running the Boston Marathon this year, not because she is devoted to running (she’s just beginning to train in earnest) or because she loves marathons (this is her first!). Victoria is running in memory of her brother Pete, and to give back to The Children’s Room, where her sister-in-law, Jen and her nephew, Jeffrey found solace and support after Pete’s death.

In her practice at Lexington Pediatrics, Victoria has often recommended TCR to families after the death of a parent or child. Now she is inspired to raise money to support The Children’s Room. She is motivated to help TCR continue to provide children and their families with a caring, safe environment and the resources to rebuild their lives after the loss of a loved one.

The Children’s Room welcomes all families, regardless of their ability to pay.

Read more about Victoria’s story and how you can support her inspiring run.

We offer a series of workshops that provide practical information and strategies to address challenging topics related to death, divorce, illness, or any crisis of loss.  These workshops are open to the community, and continuing education credits are available for participants. Workshops run from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm at our house in Arlington.

Our Spring-Summer Workshop Series runs from March-July. Each workshop is offered two times:

Teens in Transition: Understanding the Challenges of Loss in Adolescents
March 6, 2010 | May 22, 2010

If We Lost Uncle David, Why Can’t We Go Find Him? Strategies for Talking with Young Children about Death, Dying and Loss
March 13, 2010 | July 19, 2010

Fostering Resiliency in Children Coping with Death, Illness and Other Losses
March 20, 2010 | July 20, 2010

Supporting Young Adults Coping with Loss
April 3, 2010 | July 21, 2010

For workshop descriptions, fees, and registration information, please visit our Spring-Summer Workshop Series page.

Our Parent Alumni Group is hosting a discussion group on Sunday, March 7, from 6:30-8:00 pm.

Please join us for an evening of conversation around the topic of helping your teenager through their loss. Alumni parents, current parents, and waitlist parents are all welcome, as well as anyone interested in joining the discussion around this topic.

RSVP by emailing info@childrensroom.org.  The group meets at The Children’s Room, 1210 Mass Ave, Arlington.

Our parent alumni group is hosting a monthly series of informal discussion evenings. We hope these Wednesday evening discussion groups will be especially supportive for parents and guardians of families on our waitlist. We meet at the house in Arlington from 7:00-8:30 pm.

Upcoming Dates: March 10 | April 14 | May 12

Please RSVP to kim@childrensroom.org to help us best prepare for the meeting. Light refreshments will be served. We apologize that we are not able to offer childcare at this time. We look forward to welcoming you to any or all of our drop-in discussions!

Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) is presenting a webinar series on helping children and adolescents cope with grief and loss:

1. Bereavement Camps for Kids: Benefits and Challenges – February 1, 1:00-2:30pm ET
2. Bereaved Children & Adolescents: Lessons from Research – April 14, 1:00-2:30pm ET
3. Grieving Children & Adolescents: The Role of Internet Support – June 15, 1:00-2:30pm ET

The series will be hosted by nationally-known expert Kenneth Doka, Senior Bereavement Consultant to HFA.  The webinars will look at lessons learned, emerging trends, and how to use bereavement camps and other strategies to best serve grieving children in their communities.

For more information about topics, speakers, fees, and registration, please visit the HFA website page for Helping Children & Adolescents Cope with Grief & Loss Webinars.

We are also very proud to announce that the Hospice Foundation of America will be featuring artwork from The Children’s Room in their companion book and program for their 2010 National Bereavement Teleconference – Living with Grief: Cancer and End-of-Life Care.  To see the program cover, you can visit the HFA Teleconference page.

The Hospice Foundation of America provides education and information to help people cope with terminal illness, death, and the process of grief.  They offer resources for both professionals and individuals including brochures, books, dvds, webinars, and courses.

The Teen Performance Troupe has written an original show about grief in the lives of teens. Each of the performers is a teen who has experienced the death of a family member, and they have worked to incorporate their personal stories into an innovative performance.

 The Children’s Room Teen Performance Troupe looks forward to sharing their opening show with a supportive and caring audience:

Sunday, February 7th at 7:00 pm
Arlington Center for the Arts
41 Foster Street in Arlington

For directions, visit the ACA website: http://www.acarts.org/directions.php

Pamela Powell will lead an ongoing writing workshop  “Writing our way through the Dark.” An opportunity to express one’s inner thoughts and feelings about loss – to write, to grieve on paper, to read aloud, or not; this group is for anyone at any stage of grieving a loved one, or wanting to write about that person in all their complexity.

Pamela has been leading writing workshops and teaching writing for over 18 years on both coasts. She is the author of The Turtle Watchers (Viking ‘92), numerous articles, short stories, and poetry. A number of personal losses this year led her to offer this workshop.

When: Wednesdays 10 – 12

Cost: $120 for each 6 week session. Next session begins Feb. 5, 2010 (doesn’t meet Feb. 17)

Where: Mourning Dove Studio, Arlington Center

To register: Call 781.290.7356 or email: Ruth@mourningdovestudio.com

 Our parent alumni group, who have been through our program, will be hosting a series of informal discussion evenings. We hope these Wednesday evening discussion groups will be especially supportive for parents and guardians of families on our waitlist.

Please RSVP to kim@childrensroom.org to help us best prepare for these meetings. Light refreshments will be served. We apologize that we are not able to offer childcare at this time.  Come join us on: January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, and May 12. We will be meeting at the house in Arlington from 7:00-8:30 pm.

We look forward to welcoming you to any or all of our drop-in discussions!

Here at The Children’s Room, we’ve been at a loss about how to find additional work space in our already crowded offices! Luckily, we received pro bono professional help from four fabulous local organizers who helped us accomplish our goal.  These professionals not only provided us with a detailed plan for rearranging our office furniture — they also contributed an additional twelve hours of hands-on help to make our work spaces more productive.  Good bye clutter, hello labeled boxes and storage solutions and re-energized rooms.

We are very grateful to this talented group of organizers:

Barbara Clement, OrgWks@comcast.net; Dawn Link, www.ResolutionsOrganizing.com; Helene Papanastassiou, hep.po@verizon.net; and Kathy Peterson, www.petersoncoaching.com

An evening of light and remembrance was celebrated December 9th, at our Community Candle Lighting.  We worked together to create a special wreath, as everyone decorated ribbons with messages, memories and wishes and tied them to a circle of evergreens.  Our Circle of Light ceremony started as we lit five tall candles representing grief, courage, memories, love, and hope. Children and adults took turns lighting individual candles, each honoring the life of a person who has died but who is remembered in this season of light, for “the light your loved one brought to your life.”

Thank you to all who joined with us this holiday season for our Circle of Light ceremony. Wishing everyone a hopeful and peaceful New Year!