I’ve talked many times about the Children’s Room. And how grateful I was for their grief support services when I needed them.
From the one-hour consultation right after Mike died to give me advice on helping my kids to the parenting while grieving educational series I took a couple years ago. Their services were invaluable.
I wanted to let you know about a similar organization in Framingham, MA, called Jeff’s place.
Three Things Make Jeff’s Place Unique:
- They focus on the whole family; all members attend together and receive group support. These sessions have a direct, profound, life-changing impact on the families.
- Each group is led by a clinician and an extensively trained volunteer who both specialize in grief, assuring that families get the most out of their time at Jeff’s Place.
- Jeff’s Place Founding Director, Jenny Kaplan PhD, is the Primary Investigator for an international research study evaluating the reliability and validity of the Inventory of Youth Adaptation to Loss (IYAL) as an assessment instrument of youth coping with grief and their social support relationships.
The IYAL has the potential to be a useful instrument not just in assessing youth individually, but those who participate in both short and long-term grief and bereavement programs. The IYAL may also have potential to assess changes in individual feelings and social support relationships over time.
The IYAL fills a gap, guaranteeing that Jeff’s Place is at the leading edge of best practices in the field with the knowledge of the best ways to support and measure program outcomes for grieving children and teens.
In the future, I hope The MRP Project can partner with Jeff’s Place to provide hope through social support! As always, thanks for your support of The MRP Project.