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April's Charity of the Month:

The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families

The Dougy Center’s support peer groups for children and families are ongoing and meet every other week for 1 ½ hours.

For children grieving the loss of a loved one, fear and confusion often cloud their vision and prevent them from seeing past the pain of their loss. Because children comprehend death very differently than adults, one of the most effective ways to begin the healing process is peer-to-peer counseling, which provides comfort and support in a safe and nurturing environment.

The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that provides child-centered peer counseling for children, teens, young adults and their family members who are grieving the loss of a parent, primary caretaker, sibling or friend.

The MDRT Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to The Dougy Center to fund a new peer counseling group that will serve grieving children and families in the Portland metropolitan area. This grant was sponsored by Michael J. Sweeney, LUTCF, an 11-year MDRT member and Bronze Knight from Portland, Oregon.

“The Dougy Center model enables children who have experienced similar loss to come together and support one another,” Sweeney explained. “This is critical to their healing process and can help them avoid risk factors such as depression and drug and alcohol abuse.”

The Dougy Center is more than just a bereavement center—it is an extended family network that provides a safe place for children and families to share their grieving experiences.  Because death in a family is often accompanied by financial upheaval, the Dougy Center does not charge families a fee for their services. 

More than 170 trained volunteer facilitators lead peer counseling groups that are divided by the type of death and age of the child.  Family members are also encouraged to participate in separate counseling sessions to encourage a cohesive familial approach to the healing process.

The Dougy Center has also created an acclaimed National Training Program, which has provided training for more than165 national and worldwide child bereavement programs.  The funding from this training program allows The Dougy Center to continue to provide its counseling services free-of-charge for children and families.  Since its founding in 1982, The Dougy Center has helped more than 20,000 children, teens and young adults cope with the loss of a loved one.