PROJECT JOY AND HOPE
PO BOX 5111, PASADENA, TX, 77508
LOCAL PHONE: (713) 944-6569
TOLL FREE: 1-866-JOY-HOPE

 

Project Joy and Hope offers a parent support services program, entitled H.O.P.E. This program, Helping Our Pain Ease, is designed to assist both men and women who have experienced the death of a child through seven, weekly bereavement support/ education sessions. This program is provided free to the public. Sessions are ongoing. These seven sessions of H.O.P.E., led by licensed counselor Donna Lamb, LMSW-ACP, utilize music, relaxation, guided imagery, and experiential exercises to address issues which are common in parental grief, including anger, guilt, and forgiveness. The H.O.P.E. program also addresses normal grief responses vs. complicated grief responses, and teaches group members tools that can be used to release emotions when ready. The seven-week H.O.P.E. series reinforces parents' positive coping skills, and addresses other factors that facilitate a family's healthy adjustment to the death of a child.

Need for the Program: The death of a child, no matter the age, has been described as the most devastating event an individual can face in a lifetime. The pain may, at times, seem overwhelming. After a child's death, parents often find it difficult to fulfill the role they hold in the family: mothers may find themselves unable to be the nurturer, communicator, and emotional hub of the family, and fathers may feel they have failed in their role as protector and provider. Essential to the healing process are finding outlets to express the pain that naturally accompanies grief, and finding a support system that encourages active remembrance of the child.

Additionally, parents may be concerned about their surviving children's reactions to the death, and wonder how to help guide them through this difficult time. For children to appropriately adjust to the death of a sibling, it's important that parents possess positive coping skills, and model to their surviving children appropriate ways of expressing emotions.

Participants: Any parent in the Gulf Coast area who has experienced the death of a child is invited to participate in the program. Family members are encouraged to attend separate sessions. The H.O.P.E. program is available to all parents, no matter the length of time since the death occurred or the age of the child (i.e. adult child).

We are working to expand this ongoing program to various locations throughout Houston, and to develop our Spanish version of this course.

We’ve listed several places to find support. Please let us know if you know of others.

Texas Cancer Council

Children's Hospice Advocates

Parent Support Groups

Grief and Bereavement Support

 
 
"Project Joy and Hope relies solely on donations from corporations, organizations, foundations and individuals like you who share our vision."