ASHLAND — Dr. Kailey Bradley is a a clinical mental health counselor in Ashland on a mission to provide children and families with free, peer-based grief support.
Now, she just needs to spread the word about her new nonprofit, the Ohio Bereavement Collaborative, ahead of the first sessions in February.
“We’re excited to see where this journey takes us and we’re we’re very open to collaborating and connecting with other agencies and we’re really trying to get a pulse on what the needs of our community are,” Bradley said.
The sessions will be on the second Saturday of each month at her counseling practice, Refuge Counseling, located at 1060 Claremont Avenue, Suite Six, from 10-11:30 a.m.
There will be one group session for children and one group session for parents/caregivers.
“By having these groups going on at the same time, we really hope to wrap the entire family system with support and really be able to leverage that,” she said.
According to a Judith Ann Griese Institute study from 2020, one in 12 U.S. children will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. In the state of Ohio, that number is one in 10.
Bradley will lead the sessions, but for the kids’ sessions, there is not a set structure. Bradley plans to open them with introductions, then kids can choose a station, such as arts and crafts or music and dance.
At the end of the session, everyone will come together again to talk as a group again, and host an optional candle-lighting ceremony to honor family members who have died.
“Every kid expresses grief differently. Sometimes we don’t want to talk about our loss, and that’s all okay. It’s just helpful and comforting to be in a room with other people who kind of get it.”
Bradley
There are not any kids or families signed up for the sessions yet, but those interested in attending the sessions can sign up at this link, or email info@theobc.com.
What does the future of the Ohio Bereavement Collaborative look like?
Bradley said starting a grief nonprofit has always been a dream of hers, but it started to actualize after she attended the international summer institute at the Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon, to learn about the center’s peer grief support model.
“I came back from that and we really started mapping these goals out,” she said.
Those goals include expanding the nonprofit’s program offerings.
Bradley wants to eventually offer counseling services to specific groups of people, including children in the foster care system who no longer have a connection or relationship with their parent or guardian.
She also proposed a group for children and families who lost a loved one due to drug overdose, and another group for families who lost someone to suicide.
“I always talk about grief as expansive and I think we often only associate it with death loss, but grief can involve so many pieces and parts,” Bradley said.
Bradley is also looking for volunteers who are passionate about helping kids to serve as group facilitators to act as “an extra set of eyes and ears during sessions.”
