Childrens Grief Center of El Paso

Established in 1995, the children'Childrens's Grief Center (cgc) of El Paso continues to be the only non-profit agency in west Texas providing Grief support and education services to bereaved children, youth, and families-the nearest similar service in Texas is located 586 miles away. Cgc provides services to all youth ages 3-24 who have experienced a death loss, irrespective of the circumstances of the death, the relationship of the child to the deceased, or any other special circumstance that might present for the child. We pride ourselves in creating diverse and inclusive space where all youth feel safe to engage in the difficult work of grieving. Our services are aimed at mitigating the impact of adverse childhood events (aces) and reducing the risk of mental health challenges among youth and their caregivers through Grief support. In El Paso, it is estimated that nearly 1 in 10 children are affected by the death loss of a parent, the highest in Texas given several factors that affect our local border community. In 2019, our community was affected by mass community violence at walmart, in 2020 we were disproportionately affected by covid-related losses. We also are a community with many families affected by death associated with the military or law enforcement, as well as a community affected by death associated with migration. The loss of a loved one can affect a child physically, emotionally, behaviorally, and academically in both the long and short term. Unresolved Grief in children place them at higher risk for anti-social behaviors, self-destructive behaviors, and chronic mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, avoidant personality, dependent personality, obsessive-compulsive personality disorders and suicide. Over our 29-year history, cgc's programming has been anchored by our signature peer Grief support groups. At times, programming has expanded to include services to special populations-such as military families or families affected by migration; services in collaboration with other entities, such a school-based groups; offsite days of retreat or camp; memorial quilt collaborations; and others. Prior to covid, cgc entered multi-year partnerships with school districts in the form of school Grief support projects, to simultaneously offer youth group services on school campuses and train school counselors to be Grief group facilitators. In 2023, cgc initiated a period of paced strategic growth to meet the unprecedented high rates of childhood bereavement. We expanded our signature Grief support groups to include specialty support groups, such as young adult group, spanish-language caregiver group, and young child groups. We implemented a comprehensive Grief assessment process for all participants entering our program by a licensed mental health clinician. We expanded our school-based services to include a new best practice series called Grief talks, a 3-session psychoeducation modality. And we created a good Grief summer camp curriculum and program to be implemented in 2024. Also in 2023, we hired a program director, a licensed mental health clinician, who began the buildup of our new clinical Grief therapy program. Cgc staff has been trained in evidence-based practices which include multidimensional Grief therapy and trauma & Grief component therapy through partnership with the trauma & Grief Center of the meadows mental health policy institute. Cgc currently offers the following services: 1) screening and assessment; 2) information, resource, and referral via phone; 3) peer Grief support groups for youth and their caregivers; 4) school-based Grief education services; 5) youth and family Grief summer camp; 6) consultation and training for youth-serving professionals; and 6) grief-specific therapy for bereaved youth with prolonged or complicated Grief response requiring treatment. We serve approximately 450 individuals each year through these services and expect our impact to grow each of the next three years in alignment with our strategic priorities. Cgc depends on a small staff that carries out our mission in partnership with a variety of volunteer groups as well as key community relationships. Cgc provides in-depth training (16 didactic hours plus 16 experiential hours) to long-term community volunteers who assist in co-facilitating youth Grief support groups. In 2023, the number of such volunteers doubled over the previous year. Cgc also depends on the service of volunteer groups for our events, including our memory run/walk, our annual gala, and our holiday remembrance event. In 2023, we established internship training partnerships with the school of social work at the university of Texas at El Paso and participated in a community partnership with utep's executive master's in business administration program. Cgc builds capacity in our community, helping youth-serving staff and particularly school counselors become grief-informed cgc partners with a local independent school district to provide education in the community about childhood grief-how to recognize it, what to say and do, skills to support it, and how to connect youth to needed services like ours. Annually, we educate between 100-200 youth, caregivers, and school staff in grief-informed best practices. Our community partners rely on the children'Childrens's Grief Center as an authoritative source of effective therapeutic support specific to grieving children and their families. We are also nationally recognized for our ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method across culturally diverse populations. We remain a member of the national alliance of children'Childrens's Grief and seek to level our services to best practices nationally while sharing our culturally-grounder border expertise with the national network. The following are key outputs for each of cgc's three largest services in 2023 1. Grief support groups: * 58 youth served in 226 support group sessions in 36 families. * 21 youth served in 74 peer Grief support group sessions offered in schools to 17 families. * total of 79 unique youth and 52 unique caregivers served via 300 Grief support group sessions in 53 families. 2. Grief education: * 56 hours of training provided to 10 new Grief support group volunteers facilitators. * 18 hours of training provided to 56 school counselors and staff in 36 schools. * total of 66 adults who care for bereaved children trained. 3. Grief screening & navigation services: * 96 families provided with grief-informed screening, resource and referrals. Total individuals served in Grief support, education, & navigation services= 293