The Mourning Hope Grief Center has been providing services since 1994. It started to provide services to children but recently have found that they are also serving some adults. They still focus on children 50% of which are grieving the loss of a parent while others have lost grandparents or other relatives or even close friends.
They provide a variety of services such as these support groups:
- Family Grief Support Group for youth ages kindergarten through high school seniors and their caregivers
- School-Based Grief Support Group for students in kindergarten through high school seniors
- Young Adult Grief Support Group for ages 18 through 30ish
- Adult Grief Support Group for ages 30+
- Survivors of Suicide Loss Support Group for adults, teens and children (ages kindergarten and up)
- Single-day grief support events
In addition they have a counseling team for short-term grief counseling, a resource library and referrals to professionals to provide the appropriate services.
They have put their events on hold due to COVID-19 but many of us in Lincoln South Rotary have heard of Camp Erin - we have supported that event in the past with grant funds.
Carly shared that, though we have all had to make changes in our activities and operations, they have been dramatically impacted. The premise of support groups is to bring people together to share and support each other. They were concerned that providing online opportunities may not have much impact. It took them some time to get a plan in place to continue to provide services.
But, she said, they have been pleased with the results. She said they have had people join that may not have been able to join before because they were too far away. They have even had people join from out of state - South Dakota and Virginia to name two. Some age groups accept this type of offering more than others. She said that the teen support group is one that seems to work well. She said that with in-person teen groups they would often find that the teens were scared, they would come with their parents, and often shy about joining the conversation. However with online sessions, they can join from the comfort of their bedrooms- they might sing or play music - something they may have shared with the person they lost.
Though it has been disruptive to move everything to the online format, she believes that in the future, they will likely continue to offer some online sessions even when we are able to meet in person.
Carly believes that the need for grief counseling will be increasing. With physical distancing we are not able to reach out to others, hug, pat on the back and share tears. Funerals have to be limited to only a few people. If our loved ones were in a nursing home or hospital, we are not able to say our final good-byes, we are losing those final moments. People are grieving in isolation and is compounded by our need to take care of our children, etc. while at home.
Mourning Hope conducted a capital campaign to build a new facility. They have been in a house in the area of Nebraska Wesleyan and they outgrew that years ago. They have had to turn people away and could not add groups as needed.
Their construction was well underway when COVID-19 hit. They were 70% complete so decided to continue to move forward while supporting the health and safety guidelines to reduce the spread of the virus. They will not be too far behind their scheduled completing of the building by August. There will still need to be work done inside but the structure will be done nearly on time.
The design of the facility provides a number of specialized areas. One of the most important is a section for children and youth. Carly explained that, especially the really young, have a hard time expressing their feelings.
- Lincoln South Rotary Club, along with a district matching grant, provided funding for sand trays which allow children to play out their feelings using specialized "toys" such as figurines, emergency vehicles, even tombstones and caskets.
- They will have a room that is set up like a hospital room so a child can talk about what they felt and saw if they visited their loved one in the hospital before they died.
- Carly told us of a time machine that a student built that can be used to take a person back in time - to review their experience. Or take them into the future to consider how they will go through school or a wedding without a parent.
- And, there is a game room - often teens may not sit and look at each other and share, but they are comfortable to express their feelings while participating in games.
When asked about the staff and budget, Carly shared that they have 4 full time employees and 2 "very" part time employees. She said they are able to do what they do because they are deep in volunteers. For example, during Camp Erin, they have 1 volunteer for each participant - last year that was 60 - so 60 participants meant 60 volunteers. She said they put out a call for volunteers on Friday and by Tuesday they were starting a waiting list. She said for the groups, volunteers will sign up for 1 day a week for 10 weeks - a big commitment but they have no trouble filling that.
In the past their budget was about $300,000 per year but that will be going up. During Give To Lincoln day they were pleased that they received $32,000 in donations.
All services are provided at no charge to the clients. So, the donations are critical to them.
BIO:
Carly Woythaler-Runestad is the executive director of the Mourning Hope Grief Center and has served in this capacity for over 10 years. A music therapist by trade, she received a Master's in Health Administration from the University of Iowa.
Prior to Mourning Hope, Carly served as the recreation therapy director of a 165-bed long-term care facility in Minneapolis, as the director of a 26-bed Alzheimer's unit in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and as the director of health policy for the Nebraska Hospital Association, providing advocacy services at the local, state and federal level for 85 Nebraska hospitals.
Having served on the National Alliance for Grieving Children’s Board of Directors for 5 years, Carly is currently the National Board President. In addition, she has served on numerous statewide boards, including the advisory board for the American Cancer Society, as the President of the Nebraska Rural Health Association and the Area Health Education Statewide Advisory Board. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of children’s grief, health policy, community health, human resource management and leadership, including a TEDx Lincoln speech which Carly delivered in 2015 titled “No Child Should Ever Grieve Alone.” Carly is thrilled to serve as Mourning Hope's executive director, and is committed to promoting healthy communities through innovative programs and partnerships.