In Colorado, 1 in 13 children will lose a parent or a sibling by the age of 18. After the death of someone close to them, children and teens often feel isolated, withdraw from social settings, and have major changes in behavior. When Jasmine lost her father, she built up a barrier of walls in her grief. She needed support that she was not receiving from her other relationships.
Our HopeWest Kids program is designed to help children and teens learn healthy and meaningful ways to cope after losing a loved one. Through individual counseling and grief groups, feelings of isolation can be helped. After meeting with Jasmine, HopeWest Kids counselor Brittni encouraged her to express her emotions in different ways including art.
“Thanks to HopeWest, their amazing counselors, and Britni, I now have a new sense of hope, direction, vulnerability, and strength. I’d like to take my artistic talents in life and give back; back to places like HopeWest who change people’s lives…to give people who lose a friend, a parent, a loved one—who go through a major change in life—a new chance at hope,” said Jasmine.
Funded exclusively through donations, HopeWest Kids focuses on children and families in our communities regardless of whether or not they have had a family member served by HopeWest.
HopeWest Kids is the only program of its kind in Western Colorado and served more than 580 kids last year. Specially trained counselors offer grief education and counseling in Delta, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray and Rio Blanco counties.