Support group
Phillips Hopeful Hearts Program gives children 11-21 years old and their families a safe place to share, grieve and grow.
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Phillips groups provide open ended peer support and activities for children to heal after a loss of a sibling or parent.
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Phillips Hopeful Hearts is not a counseling center, It is a community for individuals to come together, share, and mentor each other through the same shard grief.
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Groups meet once a month from 6- 8 pm with dinner provided to our families at no cost.
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Teens meet and spend time doing activities and discussing their feelings, struggles, healing and how they move through school and life with their loss.
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Sharing together with those who have suffered a loss is so powerful, and helps in the healing process.
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Activities vary, we use art therapy and games to express and process their grief. For example, we make a grief bridge with popsicle sticks and each stick represents their grief story and emotions attached to their story. We find hope in sharing our stories together.
Testimonials
Abby
I have attended Hopeful Hearts Group for almost four years now. I was 10 years old when I lost my brother, John, and I have dealt with grief every day since.
His passing happened around my birthday, so every year in March, I feel a deep sadness. I also struggle during holidays, vacations, and even simple conversations with my peers about their siblings—knowing that mine is no longer here.
Coming to Hopeful Hearts Grief Group has been a source of comfort for me. We usually make crafts and openly talk about our grief, which I find very comforting and therapeutic. It makes me feel like I’m part of a community that truly understands what I’m going through. In other words, it makes me feel seen, which is why I enjoy going every month.
If I were to advise fellow teens just beginning their grief journey, I would urge them to find a community that truly understands them. I vividly remember sitting in my elementary school cafeteria a few weeks after my brother passed when a girl asked me, "Why are you still sad? “It happened almost a month ago." I never want anyone to feel the way I did at that moment—all my grief and anger bottled up into one. Trust me, as someone who is also on a grief journey, you will feel so much better once you confide in others. So please, don’t be afraid to make yourself known. Understand that people, especially in the Hopeful Hearts Grief Group, are ready to support you with open arms.
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Jenna
Jenna explains the lasting impact that our peer groups have had on her and her hope for the future.
When I was 14 my mom and my
brother told me the unthinkable, my big sister Brianna, who also happened to be my best friend, had passed away. My life completely changed in that moment. Dealing with grief was painful, what was even more painful was knowing that “no one” I knew could relate to me. I didn’t know anyone who lost a sibling and I felt completely alone and was scared. After going to the peer group at #LLP I met others just like me who knew exactly how I felt and made the grieving process easier.
In groups we talk about our feelings, experiences, and work together with activities that honor our siblings which help us work through our grief.
A few years later, my life turned upside down again. When I was 20 my brother Jesse passed away. Life truly felt like there was nothing left to live for. #LLP came with meals, baskets full of love that brought me happiness during that dark time. They made me feel certain that I had a whole community there for me.
Every group I attended I felt my broken heart piece back together slowly. I now have a community who I can relate to, a
community of people that will always be there for me.
Thank you so much to #LLP for helping to do what I imagined to be impossible, you have helped to mend my broken heart
Maddie
How long have you been coming to LLP? About 4 years.
How old were you when you lost your brother? I was 9, and I still miss him to this day.
She can talk about her Grief how it shows up and how coming to group helps her? It helps to talk with people who understand what I'm feeling.
Why does she like coming to the group? I get to meet new people and see friends I've met before. We do crafts, painting, we talk and write about our feelings in our journal.
What would you tell a sibling like yourself that is just starting this journey about coming and speaking with other teens your age? I feel better when I talk about Stevie and all of the good memories. It was hard to talk about him in the beginning but it gets easier with time.
The leaders and other siblings I've met at our LLP group are so nice and helpful. It's okay if you don't want to talk and you just want to listen.
Stevie and I were so close so losing him was hard and I just didn't understand. I'm still learning every day.
Thank you Maddie for sharing your heart and being a beacon of light and healing