Hospice of Redmond, a bereavement services organization, is expanding its opportunities for youth this summer to include a teen grief retreat on June 21 at Suttle Lake Camp.

Hospice of Redmond has hosted Camp Sunrise, an overnight grief camp for kids ages 7 through 12, for 27 years. This year, the camp takes place June 20-22, also at Suttle Lake Camp. The teen grief retreat is open to kids ages 13 through 17.

“It’s a little bit harder to get teens to want to participate in something that they don’t really know about, and also just not knowing what level of vulnerability they might experience,” said Kat Rachman-Crawford, Camp Sunrise director and bereavement coordinator for Hospice of Redmond. “That can be daunting for anybody who’s already grieving. We tend to put pretty good walls around ourselves when we’re grieving, and that’s no different for kids.”

These programs are offered to kids living in Deschutes, Jefferson or Crook counties, regardless of when the loss occurred. Kids may be grieving the loss of a family member, friend, pet, classmate or anyone else.

“On one hand there’s obviously the topic is grief, and the kids know that, but they’re also just kids and they are there for camp and they’re having fun, and for some of these kids it’s the first they’ve been to a sleepaway camp, and for some of the kids it’s the first time they’ve been away from maybe the other parent since one parent had died,” she said. “So we try to make the welcoming really welcome so that they feel comfortable and recognize that though we’re going to be talking about some big feelings and some big issues, they’re also going to have a lot of fun.”

Camp Sunrise includes games, art, music, stories and therapeutic activities to help kids understand their emotions. The kids create art projects, including pieces to honor and memorialize their loved ones. They create memory boats out of natural materials and release them into the water.

“Some of them, that process might be them saying goodbye, maybe for the first time, to their loved one,” Rachman-Crawford said. “Or it might be them releasing or letting go of something that they no longer feel that they need to keep with them, maybe that might be anger or fear. I have seen some kids write letters to their loved ones and make them into sails for their boat.”

The teen grief retreat is a similar program, though geared toward older kids. It will be happening alongside the younger children’s camp. As an expressive arts program, the plan is for it to be focused around an arts studio, with different available activities.

“We’ll kind of just be walking through the day with them. Through the different art activities we’ll be presenting to them different ways that art can be supportive in their expression of their emotion, finding ways to come at the grief from the side through art, which can be a little bit gentler and easier for teenagers who are walking through a big transitional time of life anyway,” she said.

Churches, schools, counselors and other organizations serving youth and families often refer kids to Camp Sunrise. Hospice counselors interview caregivers beforehand to make sure the camp is a good fit and to prepare the kids for camp.

The programs are free for the families and are funded through donations and fundraising, said Rachman-Crawford. The goal is $25,000 for this year’s camp. Rachman-Crawford is hoping to have around 10 teens for the retreat and 30 kids for the camp.

Applications for both programs are available on the Hospice of Redmond website. The organization is also looking for volunteers and sponsors for Camp Sunrise and the teen grief retreat.

Rachman-Crawford and her team will support both groups throughout camp to make things easier for everyone.

“They’ll be some brief interactions amongst the groups and I think that can be really valuable for the teens to see the resiliency in these younger kids who’ve also gone through a similar experience as they have,” said Rachman-Crawford. “It can be really wonderful to youngers to see the older kids who have had a similar experience and they can imagine themselves walking forward in their lives and being able to learn how to carry that grief going forward.”