What To Do When Your Child Is Afraid To Go To Bed & Worried at Bedtime

Reframe The Behavior

Greetings to our families, volunteers, donors, & friends,

We hope this finds you feeling safe and healthy. Our lives have changed in ways we could not have imagined. It feels like we are in uncharted territories without a map, compass, or cell phone. It is bewildering, frightening, and overwhelming. Yet, we choose to start each day with gratitude for what has not changed. Spring is still here. The sun still shines. Annie's Hope still cares.

Knowing that bereaved kids and their families need and deserve support now more than ever, Annie's Hope is adjusting to ensure families meet each other, are offered healthy ways to cope with their pain and fears, can communicate with peers who understand them, and feel joy without guilt.

Although our offices are closed for the time being, staff work tirelessly from home. Meeting daily via Zoom, our creative, dedicated Annie’s Hope team re-imagined core programs which currently include:

• Family and School Support Groups meet via Zoom – Student Activity Kits are delivered/mailed to homes.

• Horizons, our anticipatory grief support visits occur via Zoom – Family Tool Kits are dropped off at doorsteps.

• Instructions for Staff’s favorite activities and books from our Community Resource Library are uploaded to a new Annie’s Hope YouTube channel.

• Professional Education and Speaker’s Institute programs are available in both live and recorded formats.

• High-quality, virtual versions of Camp Courage and Camp Courage-Teens will be hosted the first two weeks in June.

• Virtual or in-person, our Teen Retreat is still on the schedule for July.

• Grief support and resources for parents, teachers, caregivers, or any adult in need of ideas for activities, books, games, discussions, etc. related to death, dying and illness are available.

We continue to address crisis and non-emergent phone calls, emails, and social media messages daily on a case-by-case basis. We expect demand to increase dramatically when programs and schools can reconvene in-person.

Grief has never been a lonelier or more isolating state than it is today. Yet, Annie’s Hope is a dynamic organization made up of talented individuals who adapt and respond to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.

Please continue to refer grieving kids and their families to Annie’s Hope. Whether their grief is a direct result of COVID-19 or not, the mental health of people struggling to cope with loss is fragile. We all deserve a little extra kindness during these challenging times.

We know you are exhausted, juggling more tasks than ever, and wondering what your future holds, and with that, we are deeply thankful that you have taken the time to be with us.

Be gentle on yourself. Find moments of joy. Know that we are with you every step of the way.

Namaste!

Becky Byrne

Founder & Executive Director

Read more at www.annieshope.org and reach us by phone at 314-965-5015 or by email at kidsgriefmatters@annieshope.org.