The NAGC’s 15th annual symposium took place in Boston this year! This symposium brought together professionals in the child bereavement field to share their best practices concerning programming, research, measurement, fundraising and other topics. This colorful photograph shows artwork created by attendees from our NAGC workshop, “Winter Always Turns to Spring.”
Over 300 representatives from child bereavement programs across the country came together in June to share and learn about the important issues facing the many grieving families we serve.
Staff from The Children’s Room presenting at the symposium included Laurie Moskowitz-Corrois, Deborah Rivlin, and Colleen Shannon. They are pictured here with Phyllis Silverman (board member and internationally known author and bereavement researcher) as well as our Executive Director, Donna Smith Sharff. Our workshops were well attended and widely appreciated!
We shared an expressive arts activity we had used this spring in our groups as we explored different feelings. The discussion that unfolds is around growth (the petals), support (the stem), comfort (the leaves), and a child or teen being at the center of their own life, with the person who died always being a part of them.
As Laurie Moskowitz-Corrois explains, the metaphor “winter always turns into spring” can become a rich dialogue using the understanding of the seasons to deepen our awareness of the cycles of life and death and personal meaning making.”
Email info@childrensroom.org if you’d like to find out more about our workshop materials. For a detailed description of the expressive arts intervention on Spring Flowers, please click here.
