{"id":251336,"date":"2017-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/helping-children-overcome-grief\/"},"modified":"2017-03-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T07:00:00","slug":"helping-children-overcome-grief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/helping-children-overcome-grief\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping children overcome grief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Ken Williams | Editor<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Longtime North Park resident Cara Allen has been named clinical director of Experience Camps, a national nonprofit devoted to helping children who have experienced the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n

\"Helping
Cara Allen has been named clinical director of Experience Camps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Allen has more than 14 years of experience in bereavement, currently running a private psychotherapy practice in San Diego.<\/p>\n

About 1.5 million children are living in a\u00a0single-family household due to the death of one parent, according\u00a0to the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

Grieving children are at higher risk than\u00a0their non-grieving peers for depression, anxiety,\u00a0poor school attendance and higher dropout rates,\u00a0isolation,\u00a0behavioral problems,\u00a0lowered\u00a0academic achievement, drug and\/or alcohol\u00a0abuse, incarceration\u00a0or\u00a0suicide, according to Experience Camps officials.<\/p>\n

Allen is a licensed clinical social worker and has worked extensively in bereavement for the past 14 years at Sharp Healthcare, where she was awarded both Social Worker of the Year and the prestigious Sally Bruener Haugh Spirit of Caring awards.\u00a0She has been involved with Experience Camps since 2014.<\/p>\n

Here are five questions with Cara Allen:<\/p>\n

Question 1: What are Experience Camps?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cExperience Camps are one-week camps for boys and girls who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.\u00a0It\u2019s a place where kids can laugh, cry, play, create, remember the person who died, or forget the grief that weighs them down.\u00a0It\u2019s a place where they can feel \u2018normal,\u2019 because everyone there has been through something similar and understands what it\u2019s like to lose someone important to them. It\u2019s a home away from home. And just about everyone will tell you: \u2018It\u2019s the best week of the year.\u2019\u00a0In 2017, Experience Camps will have over 450 campers at camps in Maine, California, New York and Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 2: What is the California Experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe California Experience is a one-week camp for boys and girls, entering grades four through 12 in summer of 2017, who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.\u00a0It is held at Camp Hess Kramer in Malibu, California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 3: What is your role with the nonprofit organization and what are your goals for the program?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs clinical director, my goal is to ensure that our campers feel safe, understood and supported.\u00a0I create programing that allows campers to express their grief in age-appropriate ways and to develop coping mechanisms that assist them when they get home from camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support our clinical teams so they can best meet the children\u2019s needs during camp and I facilitate connections with like-minded organizations and people who can offer additional services to our youth when they\u2019re not at camp. I inject a clinically informed perspective into program and strategic discussions that are shaping the future of the organization.<\/p>\n

\"Helping
Cara Allen and her partner, Dan, and their two dogs at their home in North Park (Courtesy of Cara Allen)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy goal for our program is to provide the best experience for grieving youth possible.\u00a0I am excited to help spread the word to the many kids out there who could benefit from spending a week with us, becoming a part of our community.\u00a0Working together with local professionals, we are continuing to grow the organization to help as many bereaved children as possible, while expanding our services to include more year-round programming for campers and their caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 4: What is your professional background?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI came to San Diego in 1998 after college for a temporary job with the American Red Cross.\u00a0It was when they were still located on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest and I worked in their disaster services department in a program sponsored by AmeriCorps.\u00a0It was intended to be a one-year stay in San Diego that has turned into nearly 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cI attended San Diego State University for graduate school, earning my master of social work degree in 2001. During that time I volunteered in the rape crisis program at the Center for Community Solutions, and interned at Casa de las Campanas and the San Diego LGBT Community Center in Hillcrest.\u00a0From there I worked in a small nonprofit providing wraparound services to youth before becoming a part of the Sharp HealthCare team in 2003.\u00a0I worked at Sharp Memorial Hospital, Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, and in the Laurel Amtower Cancer Institute at Sharp.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy professional life has always included work with grief and loss in many different forms.\u00a0After earning my professional license, I started my private practice, guiding people through life transitions of all kinds. It is work I continue to love doing.\u00a0In 2014 a chance email from an oncologist led me to Experience Camps.\u00a0Joining their team initially as a director of camper services for the California camp, and now transitioning into the full-time national role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Question 5: What do you like about living in North Park?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have lived in and around North Park since I came to San Diego.\u00a0It has changed so much, but has always felt like home.\u00a0My partner, Dan, and I live with our two dogs in a Spanish home in Morley Field that is over 100 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe enjoy the diversity of the community here, the warmth of our neighbors, and the commitment of the community to retain its history.\u00a0Of course, the ease of walking to restaurants, shops and breweries is fantastic!<\/p>\n

\"Helping
Dan, Cara and their dogs in front of the mural on the side wall outside Belching Beaver Brewery\u2019s North Park tasting room (Courtesy of Cara Allen)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe lovingly refer to Balboa Park as our front yard, and are always happy strolling around in the evenings there.\u00a0Last year, my parents moved from Pennsylvania to North Park, so that is another thing that I love.\u00a0Being three blocks away from them instead of 3,000 miles is amazing!\u00a0Since my work with Experience Camps is done remotely from my home, I get even more time to enjoy all that North Park has to offer.\u00a0There is something so wonderful about working while watching the hummingbirds outside my window.\u00a0Once in a while I even catch a glimpse of the parrots!\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the Experience Camps<\/strong>, visit experience.camp<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ken Williams es editor de Uptown News y puede ser contactado en <\/em>ken@sdcnn.com<\/em><\/a> o al 619-961-1952. S\u00edguelo en Twitter en @KenSanDiego<\/a>, Instagram en @KenSD<\/a> o Facebook en KenWilliamsSanDiego<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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