Understanding grief in West Virginia youth and how to help.
written by CHRISTY PERRY TUOHEY
WE HAVE AN IDEAL IN OUR POPULAR CULTURE that childhood is a time of happiness, play, and carefree exploration. However, that’s not always the case. “In the state of West Virginia, one in seven children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they reach age 18,” says Micki Burns, CEO of the nonprofit child and family bereavement center Judi’s House in Aurora, Colorado. Her organization produces an annual childhood bereavement report through its JAG Institute research arm.
Contributing to the high percentage of childhood and teenage loss in the Mountain State are lack of access to healthy food, clean water, and affordable health care. Substance abuse factors in as well. But when JAG researchers drilled deeper into birth and mortality data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control and the U.S. Census Bureau, they found that household income heavily impacts the likelihood of a child’s or teen’s loss.
The researchers put the state’s counties into income categories, from lowest to highest. “In that lowest income group in West Virginia, it’s one in five children in those counties who will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18,” Burns says. “When we look at the wealthiest income group, it’s one in nine.” The national rate is one in 12.
Statistically, young people who lose important loved ones are more likely to have anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts, more likely to drop out of school, and less likely to maintain stable employment or healthy relationships.
“I think we have this idea that children are just going to take it in stride, and they do,” Burns says. “But if we could support them in a way that’s really healthy and that really allows them to learn how to cope with all of the grief reactions that they have, we’re setting them up for success in all of the difficulties that they’re going to face down the road.”
Thankfully, like Judi’s House, there are numerous youth grief support programs available throughout the state that offer the necessary resources and care needed to aid West Virginia’s youth in navigating, understanding, and coping with loss.
- Bereavement Peer Support Groups at West Virginia Family Grief Center, Morgantown
- Camp Good Grief at Mountain Hospice, Barbour, Grant, Mineral, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, and Tucker counties
- Camp Hope at Hospice of Southern West Virginia, Daniels
- Grief Support at Hospice of Huntington, Huntington
- Wallace Grief Support & Education Center at HospiceCare, Charleston
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