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Bereavement Camp for Families at Barretstown

The bereavement camp weekends at Barretstown offer families a supportive environment within which they can spend quality time together.They can find support, share their experience of loss and find ways to look to the journey ahead.

Bereavment Camp Introduction

The bereavement weekends at Barretstown offer families who have lost a child through serious illness a supportive environment. Within this environment they can spend quality time together, find support, share their experience of loss and find ways to look to the journey ahead.

The camp runs from Thursday to Sunday. Volunteers arrive for 9am Thursday morning for training and team-building before the families arrive. It is a three camp cycle with camps at 6 monthly intervals and we encourage our volunteers to complete the cycle with the families. Volunteers are assigned to work with a family for the weekend and also an activity group. New volunteers are paired with a returning volunteer for guidance.

The bereavement component of the weekend is 5 hours, spread over the weekend, and includes reflection, celebration of life (both are quiet times with music, candles and words lasting 30-40 minutes), and age appropriate group bereavement sessions.

A movie is also shown on the first night of each camp. Volunteer participation in the bereavement component is optional.  These sessions are facilitated by a Bereavement therapist.

Therapeutic Recreation

Barretstown’s unique programmes – using Therapeutic Recreation – are much more than holidays.
They are based on four main building blocks, with the emphasis always, always on FUN – Challenge, Success, Reflection and Discovery.

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