DAPHNE, Ala. - Wiregrass Hospice of Daphne is once again offering a summer camp for children dealing with the loss of a loved one. Camp Brave Heart will be held July 25-28 at Camp Timpoochee in Niceville, Fla. Transportation will be provided.

Activities include the typical indoor and outdoor fare, such as arts and crafts, boating, tubing, swimming, canoeing and field games, but clinical experts will also be on hand to help campers navigate the healing process.

“The camp is designed for kids ages 7 through 14 who live in different parts of our hospice service area, said Jonathan Green, Wiregrass chaplain and bereavement coordinator. “We offer the camp free of charge, and it is open to any child who has had a loss in their family.”

The loss could be that of a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, or anyone else for whom the child is grieving, he added. The loved one need not have been in hospice care.

Green said we all face emotional trauma when we lose someone we love, but it’s much tougher on a child. Therapeutic group sessions are held as a way of helping young people sort through their emotions.

“It lets them know they’re not alone,” he said. “Other kids are going through the same thing. But, although it begins the healing process, the void is never really filled.”

On the other hand, children are resilient, he pointed out, and a devastating loss now can actually help them cope with disappointment later in life.

Green said, “Sometimes kids even help parents through the grief. They sometimes absorb it better than adults. Some kids are absolutely devastated, and they act out. The develop behavioral problems.”

The children who have attended past camps have experienced loss on many different levels. He said, “We had a child who lost a parent to violent crime around three years ago. We have had some come in who have lost a sibling. We don’t discriminate against any child.”

Every child’s loved one is honored at camp through a memorial service. It serves as an exercise that enables kids to begin living again in the face of death.

Green said, “It depends on the age, but sometimes children have a tough time dealing with the concept of death. It’s such a hard time. A lot of times you’ll hear them say ‘grandma is sleeping’ or ‘grandma’s in Heaven.’”

He added, “Our faith community, and our family dynamics, all play into how we deal with death.”

The camp caters to the individual emotional needs of each child, Green said. The children also offer a shoulder to their campmates because they are able to draw upon their own emotions.

“These things shake you to your core, but they’re able to deal with it,” he said. “It becomes a wonderful experience to watch the kids help each other.”

Wiregrass Hospice has three other such camps in the Southeast. Green said, “It’s a way of us giving back to the community in a tangible way.” The hospice company is a division of Melville, N.Y.-based Gentiva Health Services.

Camp Timpoochee was established as the first residential 4-H camping facility in Florida in 1926. The location at Stake Point on the Choctawhatchee Bay was at the time a high bluff covered with hardwood trees and a beach with a sloping sand bottom. The area had been used as a campground by Native Americans, and pottery shards were found along the beach.

In the 1930s, 4-H members were asked to name the camp. Rusty Grundin from Santa Rosa County suggested the name Timpoochee, for Chief Timpoochee Kinard, chief of the Euchee tribe.

For more information about Camp Brave Heart, or to request an application, call Jonathan Green at (251) 621-3733.