BCBSNM supports kids’ hunger relief
The Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico announced that it received a $11,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico through its Healthy Kids, Healthy Families initiative. The grant will be used for support groups to mitigate the stress and painful isolation bereaved children experience, and help prevent a vast range of health and mental health consequences associated with unresolved childhood bereavement.
“We are grateful to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico as we serve children and families in support groups following the death of their loved one,” stated Jade Richardson Bock, executive director of the Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico. “In 2014, the Grief Center served over 500 children and their families coping with the death of a loved one. As we do not charge for our services, partnering with funders such as BCBSNM allows us to provide this much-needed program that is unique in central New Mexico.”
“We’re proud to give our support to the Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico as a Healthy Kids, Healthy Families partner,” said Janice Torrez, vice president of external affairs for BCBSNM. “Through its work, we expect to see measurable improvement in children’s health by providing support groups for children through young adults ages 5-25 and their caregivers.”
The Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico provides free support groups for children, teens, young adults and their caregivers who are grieving the death of a loved one. Support groups are designed to give the opportunity to talk, draw, write, play or act out experiences and to process these experiences with others who are going through the same thing. Activities are appropriate to each age group, but may include an art project (drawing pictures about the funeral, the last memory, etc.) or a puppet show choreographed by the kids, reading children’s stories about different kinds of death, writing personal stories about the person who died, or just talking. Group guidelines let each child know they can always “pass” if they don’t feel comfortable with the activity.