Chilliwack Foundation grant helps funds extension of Child and Youth Program supports

Chilliwack Hospice Society has extended its grief support program for children and youth to include video gaming to better accommodate clients who are neurodiverse with the support of a community grant from the Chilliwack Foundation.

According to Child and Youth Program Manager Franceska Hills, over the last several years, the number of child and youth clients with a diagnosis of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and other neurodevelopmental disorders have steadily increased at the Society. Hills identified video gaming as an engaging and exciting support model for neurodivergent children. By offering in-person grief support services through video gaming, children who might otherwise feel self-conscious, apprehensive, and isolated can access support in a familiar, low-barrier way tailored to their interests.

By embracing and accommodating neurodivergent kids, we alleviate the pressure of them having to perform like their neurotypical peers, masking who they are and how they feel, and denying their needs, Hills explains. That kind of pressure is exhausting and makes the grieving process even harder.

Through games like Minecraft, children who typically find it uncomfortable and challenging to interact with others, either one-to-one or in a group, can navigate a video game world and feel knowledgeable, successful, and in control.

Promoting opportunities that provide a sense of security is so essential, particularly when a child or youth is grieving because the feeling of having no control is intensified when someone they love has died, Hills says.

A generous Chilliwack Foundation grant in 2023 enabled the Society to purchase a new television screen, Nintendo Switch, games, and bean bag chairs for the programming space dedicated to its youngest grief support clients. Since then, the innovative extension of the Child and Youth Program of combining grief support and emotional development with video gaming has improved accessibility for neurodivergent and neurotypical clients alike.

Connecting with grieving children and youth often appears differently than grief support for adults. Discussions about death, dying, grief, and loss can occur through playful and creative activities wherein children’s and youth’s grief experiences are processed and normalized. The addition of video gaming to existing supports such as art, music, and play, has been exceptionally complementary.

At Chilliwack Hospice Society, one of the organization’s goals is to provide free, low-barrier grief support services through a variety of programs for children and youth. Individual needs are accommodated through one-to-one support, community outreach, in-school support, group support, family activities, and equine connections. All programs and services are offered free of charge because of the generosity of community donors and their support of Chilliwack Hospice Society fundraising events and the Thrifty Boutique.

To learn more about the Child and Youth Program at Chilliwack Hospice Society or to make a donation, please call (604) 795-4660 or visit www.chilliwackhospice.org