TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Garden helps mend hearts of bereaved children

Photo by Ashley Mann, Gulfside Regional

Skye, left, digs a hole for Kristian to plant a flower in the Children's Healing Garden at the Gulfside Regional Hospice Bereavement Center in New Port Richey.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: August 26, 2009

To everything there is a season, children who have lost loved ones learned at the recent Mending Hearts Children's Day Camp.

Gulfside Regional Hospice stages the annual event, during which the youngsters plant flowers in the Children's Healing Garden at Gulfside's Bereavement Center in New Port Richey.

"As they place the flowers in the ground, it is a time of reflection and learning about the changing of the seasons," Sonia Quinones, Gulfside's director of bereavement, explained in a press release. "Planting in the Children's Healing Garden helps the children learn about the life cycle and how all things that are born must eventually die."

John Lamm with the Home Depot store in Port Richey has been involved with this project for the last three years. Home Depot provides the flowers and mulch while staff members from the store help the children with planting the flowers in the garden.

After planting the garden, the children had a small pizza party and received an autographed sign from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Mike Alstott.

Children might choose a flower that reminds them of a favorite color of a lost relative, Quinones pointed out.

In addition, the youths paint a short message on a rock to a loved one, Quinones said. The rocks are placed next to the flowers in the garden, too.

Sentiments might include messages such as "I love you, mom," "Wish you were here," or "Miss you."

Besides the day camp and the recent mini-reunion of camp participants, Gulfside offers weekly Mending Hearts groups on Wednesdays. Age groups start with children ages 6 to 9 all the way up to teens 16 and older.

"We do address their loss," Quinones said.

The camp and weekly groups mix in plenty of fun. Gulfside staff strive for "activity-based counseling" so the children don't feel as though they are in therapy sessions, Quinones explained.

Children typically are able to express themselves, she observed.

"We find the kids don't hold back," she noted. "You may have a shy person here and there" among new members of a group, but they quickly learn to share.

All bereavement services are provided free of charge to Pasco County residents. Gulfside also offers support groups, the Mending Hearts Children Program and individual counseling. For more information, call 727-845-5707 or go online to http://www.GRHospice.org.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT