Peace Arch Hospice Society is a volunteer-based non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting all who are facing the end-of-life journey and those who are grieving, as well as educating the community on dying and grieving.
They provide professional grief and palliative support programs and services, free of charge, to residents of South Surrey and White Rock who are grieving or at the end-of-life. This includes counselling sessions with a Registered Clinical Counsellor, children’s grief support camps, grief groups, vigils, mindfulness meditation, relaxation sessions, and more.
One Youth’s Story of Loss and How She Found Healing by Helping Others
When Elyse was 11 years old, the unthinkable happened, she received the devastating news that her father died in a car accident. The days that followed were filled with intense, emotional pain. “I just wanted to feel normal again,” reflects Elyse, now sixteen years old. “I found myself being pulled in two different directions. Feeling numb, seeing my mom in pain, seeing photos, hearing voice recordings…it all made me cry.”
After some time had passed, Elyse attended Peace Arch Hospice Society’s 2-day Children’s Grief Support Camp. “Being with other children who were also grieving really helped me,” Elyse recalls.
Elyse remembers the first day of camp being more fun than she expected. She and the other children enjoyed playing games, going on a treasure hunt, making art, and Zumba dancing. She remembers seeing many emotions being expressed during the camp, especially during the sharing circles when the participants talked about the special people in their lives who died. Her heart ached hearing their stories as she so easily empathized with them.
“I didn’t think it was going to be fun, but it actually was. In a weird way it felt comforting knowing that others were experiencing the same thing as me. I wasn’t alone.”
Five years after her loss, Elyse heard about the Good Grief education program for teens at Peace Arch Hospice Society. She had reached a point in her grieving where she now wanted to help others and this program offered the opportunity to provide her with the training to do so.
When the facilitator asked if any of the adolescent participants would be interested in volunteering at the next children’s grief support camp, she was the first to raise her hand.
“I knew it was something I just had to do.”
Since then, Elyse has volunteered at three camps, helping children in a very special way that only someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one at a young age can understand.
Elyse’s story is inspiring. As a child, she found the care and support that she needed at Peace Arch Hospice Society. Now as she enters young adulthood, she is sharing her deep understanding and compassion with children who have also experienced what no child should ever have to endure, and she does so with sincerity and a generosity of spirit that is an example to everyone.