Young People & Grieving – Young People & Resilience

Saturday, May 20 In-Person Workshops

10:00 am-12:00 pm

Teens (ages 13-19) 

Indoors at Hospice of the North Coast 

1:00-2:30 pm

Children (ages 8-12) 

Outdoors at Agua Hedionda Lagoon 

We invite children (8-12) and teens (13–19) to participate in an in-person setting to express their unique voice and experience about loss and resilience. 

We will do this with creative writing and poetry under the guidance of John Fox, PPM, who for over 30 years has worked with children and teens to affirm their poet within.

Every child and teen attending will have a chance to speak and be heard. They may also attend if they prefer only to listen. Either way is fine.

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This workshop will offer a place for honest feelings about loss to be expressed. We do not intend to “fix” grieving. Grieving has a necessary place in the experience of loss. We know that in a safe and nonjudgmental creative process, there is the possibility in grief of discovering meaning.

There will be model poems shared by children, teens and adult poets that honor depth of feeling about loss and life. John will encourage all participants to find and write their own unique words.

As part of the in-person program at Hospice on May 20, interns from Hospice of the North Coast will be available to act as scribes, companions and deep listeners.

Previous experience with poetry is not required.

If you know a family with young people who could benefit from these workshops, please share this.

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For more information and to register: contact Bereavement Admin. Asst., Kirsten Kinney at kkinney@hospicenorthcoast.org or call 760-431-4100

"I’ve known and worked with John Fox for many years. Taking part in his workshops I discovered that John is the key master. He possesses the heart to allow expression to come forth, and through his care healing happens! He is skilled at keeping a poetry circle safe and nonjudgmental. Please have your children and or teens join us."

~Jim Reiser, MA, LMFT, Bereavement Coordinator of Hospice of the North Coast

John Fox is a poet, educator, and author. His books include, Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity through Poem-Making (1995) and Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making (1997). His work is featured in the 2008 PBS documentary Healing Words: Poetry & Medicine. John has taught as associate adjunct professor in California at Institutes and Universities over the last 25 years. Since 1992 he has had the privilege and joy of working with children and teens in schools and hospitals across the United States. John is President of The Institute for Poetic Medicine, a nonprofit, which provides poetry-as-healer to marginalized communities in the US and around the world.