NORWICH – Hospice Bereavement Coordinator Brenda Birdsall is busying planning the first ever ‘Camp 4 Seasons.’ The free, day long camp will take place Thursday, Aug. 27 and is designed to help kids ages six to sixteen cope with grief.

“It’s widely accepted by communication experts that 90 percent of human communication is non-verbal,” says Birdsall. “That’s why I’ve included hands on arts and crafts projects to help the kids release their innermost feeling.”

Children grieve differently than adults often masking their true feelings from those around them. Kids in pain may fall behind in school, isolate themselves from family and friends, or have bursts of anger. Often when grief is pushed away in an attempt to protect oneself from the raw pain of loss, it rears its ugly head later in life. A person who has not dealt fully with loss may be unable to forge permanent personal relationships or even turn to drugs or alcohol to treat their underlying depression. That’s why it’s important to intervene as early as possible with a grieving young person, in hopes of inoculating them from bigger problems in the future.