Grants Sustain Hospice of the Western Reserve School Crisis Response Program

Support Provided to More Than 1,000 Students, Teachers, School Staff and Parents Each Year

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Apr 10, 2014, 01:00 ET

CLEVELAND, April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hospice of the Western Reserve announced today that it has received continued grant funding of its School Crisis Response Program from the Ridgecliff Foundation ($25,000) and the Pentair Foundation ($1,325) in 2014. Both foundations have provided annual support since 2007, enabling the experienced counselors of the nonprofit agency's Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center to respond to students and staff when death-related crises occur in Northeast Ohio's school communities.

Dominique Butler, school liaison for Hospice of the Western Reserve's Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center, interacts with a student creating a memory box during a classroom grief support workshop. The workshops help students develop a normalized view of the grief process and find appropriate ways to express their feelings. (PRNewsFoto/Hospice of the Western Reserve) (PRNewsFoto/HOSPICE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE)

In the period of 2007 through 2013, counselors provided 150 immediate on-site responses in the aftermath of suicides, shootings, accidental deaths, unexpected sudden deaths, and anticipated deaths due to serious illness. Each crisis response is carefully planned in coordination with the school's staff, to fit the specific needs of the impacted school community.

"We're grateful for this continued support, which allows our team of trained counselors to provide immediate, on-site support for administrators, staff, students and parents in collaboration with school crisis response team members," said Diane Snyder Cowan, Director of the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center.

The school crisis response team helps the students develop a normalized view of the grief process, find appropriate ways to express their feelings, and memorialize the deceased. After the initial response, many schools invite the counselors back to lead follow-up activities such as grief support groups and classroom presentations.

The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center's School Crisis Response Program supplements the programs and resources already available in schools. "We offer proactive consultation services, and presentations on the grief responses of children and adolescents for teachers and school staff," Snyder Cowan said. More information is available at www.hospicewr.org/grief-loss, or by phone at 216.486.6838.

About Hospice of the Western Reserve

Hospice of the Western Reserve is a nationally acclaimed non-profit agency providing comfort and emotional support to patients and their families. The agency provides palliative end-of-life care, caregiver support and bereavement services throughout the region, and cares for people in a variety of settings, including private residences, assisted living and retirement communities, nursing homes, at Ames Family Hospice House in Westlake and David Simpson Hospice House on Cleveland's east side. For more information, visit hospicewr.org, or call 800.707.8922.

Media Contact:
Laurie Henrichsen
[email protected]
216.701.1768

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140410/DC02808

SOURCE Hospice of the Western Reserve