Camp I Believe

Gentiva Hospice (including Hospice of Charleston) currently oversees the operation of twelve bereavement camps located across the country that provide a combination of therapeutic intervention and traditional camp activities to support grieving children.  Funding for the camps comes from the Gentiva Hospice Foundation, a nonprofit, 501 (c)(3) organization, with a commitment to providing compassionate assistance to those at the end of life’s journey.

All camps aim to equip children with coping skills to help them successfully navigate the grieving process. Camp activities and programs are designed to help campers identify and express their emotions, build self-confidence, foster a sense of community, and identify with other children that are experiencing similar struggles.  The overall operation and structure of each camp varies in areas such as staffing and scheduling.  Camps are organized and operated by skilled professionals such as social workers, bereavement and spiritual care coordinators, and trained volunteers.

  

Each camp has a different and unique approach to providing therapeutic interventions through a variety of modalities. Camp activities and programming focus on providing campers with opportunity to express feelings and tell their story in a safe environment.  Although all of the campers have been identified as grieving, not all of the programming is focused on grief and loss.  Many of the children who come to camp attend for the opportunity to have fun and to feel “normal” again.  All activities, whether directly or indirectly, help campers to establish a sense of community and provide teambuilding opportunities; activities place an emphasis on personal growth through creative expression and through establishing positive relationships with peers. 

Children between the ages of 7-17 (it varies based on program offering) that have experienced the death of a loved one in the past several years are eligible to participate in Camp I Believe.   

At Gentiva Hospice, we don’t believe that death is black and white so we do not place limitations on the nature of the relationship lost; campers may have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt/ uncle, friend, cousin, etc.   Less than 25% of campers that attend Camp I Believe had a loved on our hospice services; we find that the majority of campers that attend live in the local community and have experienced a sudden loss or trauma.  And because we recognize that many of the children and families that participate in Camp I Believe come from an at-risk or lower socioeconomic status, camp is offered at no charge.

Please email Dr. Deane at christopher.deane@cobbk12.org for an application if you are interested in participating.