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The newly established Committee HHHCC of Forest County (Hope, Healing and Helpful Choices Committee) has a mission to engage the Forest County community to identify helpful choices and resources to cope with life’s challenges and promote healing.

The HHHCC Committee is planning two programs on bereavement issues for the Forest County Community in April.

The first program will be an assessment of needs and follow up presentations by Patrick Dean. Dean is a grief counselor and educator from the Milwaukee area and has the following credentials:

• Faculty member of Marquette University teaching courses on grief and bereavement

• Certified CISD (Critical Incident Stress Debriefing) working with law enforcement and fire department personnel

• Certified thanatologist with over 25 years experience in grief education

• Coordinator of educational services for six Milwaukee area cemeteries

• Consultant for the Milwaukee Boys and Girls Clubs

To prepare for his presentations, Dean is planning an initial visit to the Crandon Community during which he wants to meet with individuals or groups of the community to better assess their bereavement needs. The date of this assessment visit is April 16.

The second program is a day of presentations to students, school staff and counselors and the community on April 30. The presenter is Eileen Clark, the Bereavement Coordinator for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. An afternoon presentation will be held at the Crandon School. There will be an evening open house which will include a light meal and a presentation by Clark. The time and place for this open house will be announced later. The theme of Clark’s presentations will be “Sibling Grief.”

Eileen Clark is a certified child life specialist and is currently employed at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin as the bereavement coordinator. In addition to her role, she also coordinates the hospital’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team – a peer network of support for healthcare professionals.

Clark’s 20 years of experience working with children and families includes expertise on the developmental aspects of grief, pediatric palliative care, facilitating children’s grief group programming and bereavement follow-up to families who have experienced the death of a child. She is a resource for staff members and the community and has presented nationally on topics that include:

• Creating an Environment of Healing: Communication Strategies

• Helping Children Creatively Express Feelings of Loss

• Siblings: The Forgotten Mourner

• Grief in the Schools, Helping Children Cope

• Accepting Sorrow: Attending to Grief

Programming will explore opportunities to help siblings, parents, friends, classmates and the community experience healing through legacy building and guidance on parenting grieving children, adolescents and young adults.

Questions or suggestions about these programs or to make an appointment with either Patrick Dean or Eileen Clark, contact John Suminski by e-mail at suminskimemorial@hotmail.com, by phone at (715) 473-3131 or at P.O. Box 400, Wabeno, WI 54566. Watch for further announcements.

Current committee members are Pastors Dennis and Wendy Mannering, Dr. Richard Peters, Tom Thielke, Faye Thielke, Dr. Pete Zenti, Kim Odekirk, Tina Taylor, Jessica Ihm and John Suminski.

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