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.

The Keynote Speaker for the event is one of the founding board members of The Children’s Room Phyllis Silverman who will present on the topic of How Our Views Have Changed. Phyllis continues to research current issues on child bereavement and leads the research committee at The Children’s Room.  The committee is comprised of professionals from Tufts University, Wheelock College, Harvard University and other programs.

Program Director Donna Sharff and Program Manager Colleen Shannon will present an interactive and inspiring workshop session on The Heart of Grief: Facilitating Creative Arts Expression in Grieving Children and Teenagers.

The day long conference concludes with a performance by The Children’s Room Teen Performance Troupe.

For more information on the conference, visit the Simmons website.

This workshop will provide counselors with the tools of language and strategies, from a developmental perspective, to help children and adolescents understand, grieve and remember as they go on with life after a loss. Giving students the opportunity to develop and strengthen coping skills empowers them to cope with future losses.

To join them at the conference April 29th to May 1st, 2009, visit MASCA’s website for more information.  To learn about how The Children’s Room can bring this type of workshop to your school or conference, visit our workshop section.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm (Fee: $25, payable on-line or in person)
Location: The Children’s Room, 1210 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
To register, email cshannon@childrensroom.org.  RSVPs are essential as space is limited to create an interactive experience.

Death is part of the natural cycle of life. Giving children the opportunity to develop and strengthen coping skills around death, dying and loss before experiencing a close personal loss empowers children to cope with future losses. We will provide the tools of language and strategies from a developmental perspective to help children to understand the feelings of grief, and how to commemorate and remember as we go on. Children need to understand that there is nothing too sad or too terrible to talk about with a trusted adult. There will be an opportunity to ask questions in this interactive presentation.

Our next Parenting Through Grief program will be How to Respond When People Say and Do the Wrong Things – Sunday, March 8, 2009 from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm at our Arlington location: 1210 Mass. Ave.  More information on that and other workshops is available in our Workshops and Training section.

Deborah previously spent twenty years with the Good Grief program of Boston Medical Center.  Deborah developed the program The CIRCLE, providing support groups to families.  One of her CIRCLE programs supported families who lost someone on 9/11/2001.  Deborah also serves as an adjunct professor with the National Center for Death Education at Mount Ida College.

Deborah’s expertise is providing workshops and trainings for adults who work with children and teens.  Her trainings provide parents, teachers, counselors and youth workers with the tools, language and strategies needed to deal with stressful and difficult times.  The goal of the trainings is to bridge the understanding between adults and the youth in their lives.

“When adults have the tools, language and strategies they need to communicate with the children and teens in their lives, everyone is better able to withstand challenge,” says Deborah.  “No one can prevent stressful and painful things from happening to the children and teens in their lives, but they can develop the tools and skills to foster resiliency.  These life skills are important for all children and teens to develop.”

Grief is a term we often associate with the loss of a relationship through death yet the loss in our lives and those of the children and families with whom we work often extends beyond bereavement. David Luterman is a pioneer in working with children and families who have been impacted by loss related to deafness, disability and communication disorders . He has dedicated his career to developing a greater understanding of the psychological effects and emotions associated with hearing impairment and the caregiver role and has lectured and taught widely on ways that all caregivers can provide empathy, understanding and encouragement.

Space is limited to please RSVP to Colleen Shannon at cshannon@childrensroom.org by Friday, January 16, 2009 to reserve your spot!

Thanks to volunteer facilitator Sairey Luterman (David’s daughter in-law), Dr. Luterman is offering a special in-service to Children’s Room volunteers on Saturday January 31, 2009 from 9:00am to 12:00 noon. Keep reading for more information about Dr. David Luterman and his work.

David Luterman D.Ed.

Dr Luterman is Professor Emeritus Emerson College in Boston and Director of the Thayer Lindsey Family Centered Nursery for Hearing Impaired Children. He has lectured and written extensively on counseling throughout the United States, Canada and abroad. He is a fellow of the American Speech and Hearing Association He is author of: Counseling Parents of Hearing Impaired Children (1979,Little Brown) Deafness in Perspective (1986, College Hill), Deafness in the Family (1987,College-Hill),In the Shadows (1995, Jade Press)When Your Child is Deaf,(2001,York Press) The Young Deaf Child(1999,York Press) Counseling Persons With Communication Disorders and Their Families 5th edition (2008), Pro-Ed) Early Childhood Deafness Edited with Ellen Kurtzer- White (York Press, 2001) Hearing Loss in Children: A Family Guide( Auricle Ink Press,2006).

The Children’s Room has several resources that may help during this time.

Parenting Through Grief Workshop
Sunday, November 9, 2008 from 4 pm to 5:30 pm at The Children’s Room Arlington location
Join us for a parent to parent workshop where alumni parents will share their strategies and ideas for ways to cope with these challenging times.  Admission is free.  We have a summary of key ideas that you can download in a PDF.  This is the first of four parent to parent workshops this program year.  Mark your calendars now to join us.  We are honored to have the support and commitment of alumni parents to provide this valuable resources to the community.

Key things to remember:
1) The anticipation of the event is almost always worse than the actual day.
2) Take care of yourself – make it a priority.  Don’t think about what you “should” do.
3) There are many, many people who want to help you.  Helping you makes them feel better, too.

Have ideas to share?  Please post a comment here.

October 14, 2008

Medford Boat Club
P.O. Box 6
Medford, MA 02155

Dear Medford Boat Club,

When you decided to let The Children’s Room come to the boat club for the Annual Memories Walk, your decision had a positive impact on many families. I’d like to tell you about mine.

My husband George grew up in a house near the boat club, and spent many hours swimming and sailing there with his three brothers. I have heard happy stories about sailing races and summer fun with cousins and friends, and countless hours of diving to see who could get the most bottles from the bottom of the lake!

Sadly, along with the normal happy childhood stories, my husband’s family suffered a tragic loss when my husband’s brother Frank was killed in a car accident shortly after the boys finished high school. That was 30 years ago. My husband’s family remembers and honors Frank in many ways. We now walk with other grieving families at the Annual Memory Walk.

Anne Favaloro and her mother-in-law Sylvia Favaloro

When we found out the walk would leave from the Medford Boat Club this year, it had special meaning for our family. George’s parents drove out from Easthampton Mass to take part in memory of their son Frank. So all of us walked around the lake and shared memories of Frank and looked at the lake that had been a place of life and fun for him as a boy. We are forever grateful to The Boat Club for making a difference by being a welcoming and caring place where our family, and other grieving families, could come together and support each other.

My own association with The Children’s Room extends back to many years volunteering with families, and I am now on the staff as well. So I want to thank you for relating to the difficult situation of all the families we are trying to help, and for supporting our compelling mission.

With warm regards,

Anne Favaloro
Communications Director