Program helps children deal with a loss

OTTAWA - Julie Mason, from Putnam County HomeCare & Hospice presented an inservice last Wednesday to guidance counselors on a bibliotherapy program for children to help them utilize coping skills while dealing with losses in their lives.

Over 20 guidance counselors from Putnam County schools attended the program to learn about a program known as Bobby’s Books. The program is for children who have experienced the death of a loved one, but the curriculum has been modified to help children who have had a pet die, parents divorce, moving or a friend moving away. Mason has received training and is a certified trainer in the Bobbie Books program.

“Our children are shouldering a lot,” Mason told the group. “Using books we can give them a safe place to be. We can allow them to be kids.” She said the program has been made possible in Putnam County through donations from the Klear and Lauf families. The goal is to place a set of books and lesson plans in each school systems. Mason said the program is going nationwide but Putnam County schools are the first in northwest Ohio to be able to bring the program to the schools.

Brooks Books uses children’s literature to empower adults to help children cope with grief, loss and change. Using children's literature as a springboard for conversations it gives kids the chance to express their feelings and tell their own stories.

“There is no timeline on grief,” Mason said noting that by the time a child reach high school, 60 percent will have experienced the divorce of a parent and 20 percent will have experienced the death of one parent.

Books included in the set given to each school include “Tear Soup”, “Love You Forever”, “Eggbert, the Slightly Cracked Egg”, “The Jester Has Lost His Jingle,” and “How Are You Peeling.” The books deal with the circle of life, differences in people, grief, moods and building self esteem.

Bobby's Books was created and developed by Pam Krenzke. Pam was a mother, a friend, a trainer, a volunteer, a grant writer and an educator. Pam devoted much of her time to Bobby's Books, a support program made up of literary resources. It was the loss of Pam's two sons, Bobby and Eric, due to a genetic disorder that fueled her compassion and her fire to improve one's journey at the end of life. She was determined to make certain that parents, educators, caregivers of children would have a resource to help children deal with their loss and grief, a tool that she did not have available to her when Bobby and Eric were dying.

Mason is currently developing curriculum to provide with additional books in the Bobby Books list.