A grief camp may be one of the most meaningful things a hospice bereavement team can offer, and one of the hardest to start from scratch. Carrying You With Me is a free, research-based grief camp program, so your team doesn't have to.
The Free Carrying You With Me Grief Camp Program
In our free Hospice Staff Library (sign in on that page to download):
- A Grief Camp Guide for Hospices (119 pages): the full planning guide.
- A Grief Camp Volunteer Handbook (36 pages): for buddies and volunteers.
- Volunteer Training Facilitator Guide (32 pages): to train your volunteers.
- Teen Camp Companion (ages 12 to 18) and My Camp Book (ages 5 to 11): the campers' books, for your team to hand out and use at camp.
Go to the Hospice Staff Library →
To share with families (a direct download you can print or send by link):
Before using the program, please have your own clinician review the books. Read why below.
Everything in the program is free, with no license fee. If it helps your team, you're welcome to leave a small thank-you gift.
Why Grief Camp Matters
About 1 in 11 children in the U.S. will have a parent or sibling die before they turn 18. Many of them are in the families your hospice already serves. Medicare asks hospices to offer bereavement support to families for up to a year after a death, and children are often the hardest part of that family to reach. A camp gives them something phone calls and mailings can't: a day with other kids who understand.
What the Research Says
Camps are promising. Studies of grief camps are still small, but a review of the research found camps are a promising way to help grieving children build resilience. Children who go often say the most important part was meeting other kids who "get it."
Screening matters. A 2024 review of grief programs for children and teens found they can ease grief symptoms, especially for young people with heavier grief distress. That's why this program screens every child at intake and checks in again later, so the children who need more don't slip through.
Caregivers matter as much as campers. In a review of support programs for grieving children, some of the strongest effects were on children's traumatic grief and on caregivers feeling supported, with real gains in parental warmth and family conversations about the person who died. The program builds in a caregiver session for this reason.
What's in the Program
- Three formats: a one-day camp, a weekend camp, or a week-long day camp, so you can start small and grow.
- Intake and screening: a family intake form, with a stepped-care approach that matches each child to the right level of support, and suicide-risk screening using the NIMH Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) for older children and teens.
- Child assent: children agree to come and can always pass on any activity.
- Activities by age: for young children, older children, and teens, none of which ask a child to describe the death.
- Special groups: guidance for children whose person is still living in hospice, and for children grieving a suicide or overdose death.
- Caregiver session: practical skills for the grown-ups at home.
- Follow-up: a 6-month check for prolonged grief, with clear next steps and referral guidance.
- Equity and access: ideas for reaching families who face cost, language, transportation, or cultural barriers.
- Ready-to-use forms: grouped for before, during, and after camp, plus guidance if you don't have a clinician on staff.
- Volunteer training: a handbook for buddies and a full training guide for whoever leads orientation.
Books for Families and Campers
- A Family Guide to Grief Camp is free to download directly, so you can send the link to families or print copies before camp. It explains what camp is, why you ask intake questions, how to prepare a child, what to expect after camp, and when to get more help.
- Teen Camp Companion (ages 12 to 18) and My Camp Book (ages 5 to 11) are in the Staff Library. They're written to be used at camp, with your trained team and volunteers there to guide each activity, so we keep them with the staff books rather than sharing them on their own.
For the months after camp, every camper can take home a free Carrying You With Me workbook for their kind of loss, in kids' (5 to 11) and teen (12 to 18) versions:
- After an illness
- After a sudden loss
- After a violent loss
- After a suicide or overdose death: Remembering How You Lived
Before You Use It: Review the Books With Your Clinician
Please have your own clinician review the program before you use it. Every hospice has its own policies, and every clinician has their own standards and way of working. Before running a camp, ask your bereavement counselor, social worker, or another licensed clinician to look through all six books, especially the screening, suicide-risk, and safety pages, and make sure they fit your hospice, your state, and the families you serve.
Your clinician can request changes. If they'd like anything added, removed, or worded differently, just send me a request. I'll update the books for your hospice so they match the way your team works.
Other Ways to Offer Camp
If running your own camp isn't possible yet, you can still connect families with one. Eluna partners with hospices to run Camp Erin, a free weekend camp for ages 6 to 17, and offers free online programs and personal referral help. The National Alliance for Children's Grief also lists children's grief programs. The Carrying You With Me workbooks above work alongside any camp, not just this one.
Ready to start? Visit the Hospice Staff Library for the program books, or go back to the top for the family guide. If the program helps your team, you're welcome to leave a small thank-you gift.
Sources
- Judi's House/JAG Institute and New York Life Foundation. Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM), 2025.
- Clute, M. A., & Kobayashi, R. (2013). Are children's grief camps effective? Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care. PubMed.
- The efficacy of psychosocial interventions for grief symptoms in bereaved children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2024). Journal of Affective Disorders.
- Bergman, A.-S., Axberg, U., & Hanson, E. (2017). When a parent dies: A systematic review of the effects of support programs for parentally bereaved children and their caregivers. BMC Palliative Care, 16, 39. Read it.
- Medicare Hospice Conditions of Participation, 42 CFR 418.64(d), bereavement counseling.
- National Institute of Mental Health. Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) Toolkit.
- American Psychiatric Association (2022). Prolonged grief disorder, DSM-5-TR.
- Eluna. Camp Erin.
Please note: this program is a free educational and planning resource. It is not medical, mental health, or legal advice, and it does not replace your hospice's clinical judgment, policies, or licensed staff. Each hospice should have its own licensed clinician review and approve the program, including all screening and safety procedures, before use. In a crisis, call or text 988, or call 911.