Healing Hearts Grief Camp helps Alamogordo Students cope with the loss of a loved one

The Healing Hearts Grief Camp hosted by the Alamogordo Public School District returned June 20 to June 23 in High Rolls, New Mexico.

Alamogordo students attended the four-day camp to students learn, craft and communicate the loss of a loved one.

The grief camp was started in 2022 by Alamogordo Public Schools (APS) and is led by its Health Services Director Lisa Patch.

“We decided to start a camp last year after learning over 100 of our students, ages 5-18, had lost a parent of guardian over the last few years,” said Patch. “This year we have found approximately 180 students have lost a parent or guardian.”

Patch said that if the school could bring all these children under the same roof, there would be a sense of community and they could understand that “they’re not alone.”

Child and Grief Counselor Melanie Dunn led the curriculum and training for teachers and staff who would be dealing with the students over the course of the camp.

Much of the curriculum taught to teachers to focus on helping students with emotions and how they can better portray those feelings.

“Reflecting back to last summer when we held our first Healing Hearts Grief Camp, the amount of healing that transpired during camp was absolutely phenomenal,” said APS Mental Health Coordinator Sandra Wilder. “Students went from somber frowns to smiling faces, eager to come back to camp this year.”

Austyn Lamb, a 14-year-old who attended grief camp two years in a row, said he loved returning this year for the fun and to help younger students cope with loss.

Lamb lost his mother, Tiffany Flores, in 2020 to stage four lung and bone cancer.

“I returned because I like to help out a lot,” said Lamb. “Some kids just sit down and put their heads down, I like to talk to them and tell them all, all of us are here for each other.”

Lamb said he likes a lot of the crafts he created and could take home with himself. One of Lambs favorite items he created was a dreamcatcher along with a pillowcase.

Rachel Edwards, a counselor for Alamogordo High School said the pillowcases, in a sense, help the students with nightmares.

“Sometimes students can be scared and terrified after losing a loved one, depending on the scenario,” said Edwards. “If a child lost a loved one to say cancer, they might be scared to ever encounter cancer again and so the pillowcases, however decorated, are to help over come those fears and scare away those thoughts.”

Edwards said during the grief camp they encounter students of all different emotions. She said there can be a student that is sitting in the corner keeping to themselves, or there can be a student with an outburst of frustration.

“Sometimes there are kids that don’t want to participate. In the beginning there are a lot with walls up, not that there is anything wrong with that,” said Edwards. “It’s just we are asking them some really deep stuff to work with so you can really see the emotions they are all going through.”

Edwards said the students that returned like Lamb, also help portray a sense of comfort to new students.

“Like right now, the students were getting ready to play but wouldn’t start without everyone,” said Edwards. “It’s a sense of a family, there are about three adults to a group and six to nine kids, opposed to one adult and 20 kids in a classroom so you can really see how we develop this close relationship to help cope and understand them better.”

Edwards said although the camp is for the children, APS does what it can to help that family as a whole.

"Even though we host the camp for the kids, we will help the family in whatever way we can," said Edwards. "If maybe the parents need a counselor recommendation, we will help with that, if there may be other course of actions we can take to also help the parents cope, we will try our best to do so."

The camps final day was Friday, June 23 where students from the returning group were able to enjoy a day of play at Pizza 9 and prepared for a balloon release later that evening.

Many of the students were sad to leave but were eager to return for the following year. Lamb in particular, could not wait to help more students his age dealing with the same scenario.

“If people start talking about your loved one in a rude way, just go tell someone, and adult,” said Lamb. “I would tell anyone my age, going through this, to go to camps like this and to always stay strong.”

Sponsors and funding for the camp included donations from Scenic Chapel Funeral Home and the Alamogordo Rotary Club.

Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on twitter at @Juan36Corr.

This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: APS hold grief camp in High Rolls New mexico