Palouse residents have had access to group grief counseling on a local, relatable platform for about a month, but few were aware of it until Wednesday when Suzanne Planck, director of the Child Development Center at the University of Idaho, spoke at the 1912 Center to discuss the Willow Center and its recent extension.
“The program was in Lewiston for several years and we just received funding to expand to the Palouse,” Planck said. “People were traveling from Moscow, Pullman and beyond.”
The League of Women Voters sponsored Planck’s talk. Joan Klinger, membership chair, said the group has weekly meetings and regularly hosts speakers.
Planck said the discussion was a way of spreading the word.
“It (was) to help people know what the center is about and that we exist,” Planck said.
Planck said the center’s peer volunteers focus on helping families and children. The center has a free support group that meets twice a month in Pullman.
The support group is targeted to “promote the expression of grief and loss, the understanding of death, loss and the process of grief, and to decrease feelings of isolation associated with grief,” according to the Willow Center website.
The center also hosts Camp Erin, a weekend summer camp for children who have experienced the death of a family member or someone close. The camp focuses on promoting recreational activities designed to help children deal with grief and develop coping skills, also according to the website.
“It’s basically a children’s bereavement program,” Planck said. “We provide counseling and are facilitated by volunteers.”
For more information, or to become involved in the program visit www.willow-center.org