“Ugh” is the word that came to mind when 15-year-old Pan learned she would be attending Camp Spero last summer. She thought it was a terrible idea and couldn’t understand why her mom had enrolled her in this grief camp for children and teens, hosted by The Elizabeth Hospice. She pictured a group of overly sensitive kids doing lovey-dovey stuff and talking about grief all day long. “Camp Spero is not for a kid like me,” reflected Pan.
Pan’s mom, Lilliana, was hopeful that a weekend at grief camp would help Pan and her brother, Israel, deal with their feelings of grief and loss following the recent death of their dad. After attending the interview session with the Children’s Bereavement Program Manager, Lilliana was convinced that she had made the right decision and was excited about the experiences that lay ahead for her children.
From the minute Pan boarded the bus to camp, she realized that the other campers were normal kids – just like the ones at school. Some were loud and funny; others were quiet and reserved. They dressed in cool street clothes. And the counselors were “chill.”
One way that the campers were different from the kids at school, though, was that they understood Pan’s feelings. “I’m the only one at school whose dad died,” said Pan. “Nobody understands what it’s like to have little panic attacks in class or to suddenly start crying during lunch. But at Camp Spero, crying is acceptable. Everybody knows what you’re feeling, and they know how to comfort you.”
“Camp Spero is like Never Never Land,” said Pan, referring to the mythical island where Peter Pan has endless childhood adventures. “It’s a place with no worries, no troubles, no responsibilities. It’s a place where you can be a kid forever.”
Pan has stayed in touch with some of the teens she met at camp. One, who copes with his loss by writing poetry, inspired her to start writing songs again. Two other campers attend the same Teen Grief Support Group as Pan does at The Elizabeth Hospice’s Children’s Bereavement Center. “It turns out Camp Spero kids are a diverse group. But we’re all the same in that we each lost someone we love.”
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The Elizabeth Hospice is the community’s leading provider of grief support services for children and teens. In addition to Camp Spero, The Elizabeth Hospice offers on-campus grief support groups, peer support groups in their Children’s Bereavement Centers, crisis response and one-on-one counseling. These services are provided free of charge to grieving children and teens in San Diego County