Experience brings New Hope: Camp helps kids cope with problems

GEORGETOWN — When 14-year-old Colby Luzier lost his father two years ago to cancer, he had a difficult time coping.

Then he lost his grandfather a year later, and the difficult questions returned.

But, hard as it was, he got through it and is now working to help other children get through similar situations.

"I'm just trying to help kids now to work through their problems," Colby said. "I went through some very tough times and I thought of some very bad things, and I don't want them to do that."

There for all the tough times were the counselors and staff at Camp New Hope, a Delaware Hospice program for children and adolescents coping with the death of a loved one.

Colby himself is now a counselor at the camp.

Designed to let children know that there is life after death, the camp provides children an opportunity to get together with peers who have had similar experiences.

They are able to help each other cope with what they are currently going through by means of discussion, various projects and a lot of interaction with counselors.

"For a lot of these kids, this is the first time they have ever been with other kids who have suffered similar losses," said Mary King, a bereavement counselor and the director of Camp New Hope. "A lot of times they don't want other people to know about what they're going through because it will make them very different at a time in their life when they don't want to be different.

"For them to finally be with other children who have lost loved ones is important. They know now that they aren't alone," Ms. King continued. "A lot of what we do here is teaching and trying to normalize the process as much as we can for them."

Amanda Meade started coming to the camp in 1993 when her grandmother passed away.

"I find that this camp is a lot of fun and I like trying to talk to the kids about what happened," said Amanda, now a counselor at the camp. "If you really listen to them, they can share so much information. You can really get a feel about how they're feeling and how they're coping with their loss."

Nineteen-year-old Amanda now comes to the camp every year along with her 16-year-old brother, Andrew, and her mother, Kay.

"This is a wonderful program that just impacts so many people," Mrs. Meade said. "A lot of times people just feel helpless and Camp New Hope helps to kick that in the butt, collectively. There's just a big support group here."

During the final day of the camp Friday, campers were asked to take turns carrying the "burden bag," a burlap bag filled with rocks that was meant to signify the grief each camper was feeling.

"A big focus this year has been providing them with some coping tools because you can't just leave kids hanging with (their emotions) and not give them something to do with that," Ms. King said. "Every year I change it around and this year I decided on the ‘burden bag.'

"I just told them how each and every one of us came to camp this year with a burden on our backs and our shoulders and an important lesson was that you don't have to hold that bag constantly," Ms. King continued. "It's good to pass it off sometimes to somebody else if it's getting too heavy."

For Colby, Camp New Hope has been a godsend in his attempt to return his life to a sense of normalcy.

"This camp really helps kids to express the feelings they have inside in a nonviolent way," Colby said. "As a counselor, it's also good to know that we're helping kids because we've gone through the same things that they are right now and we know how hard it is.

"It's nice to know that we can all talk about the same stuff."

Camp New Hope ran from June 28 to July 1 at Redden State Forest just outside of Georgetown.

News Editor James Diehl can be reached at 629-5505 or jdiehl@newszap.com.