By Anglican Family Care | Posted: Monday March 14, 2016
Late last year Anglican Family Care was approached by Anglican Care South Canterbury, to see if we would consider delivering the OCEANS Grief and Loss Programme in Oamaru.
OCEANS is a group programme for children 5-15 years old experiencing grief and loss e.g. resulting from a parent or someone significant in their life dying, through the divorce or separation of their parents or in support of those children transitioning through foster relationships.
Parenting, child and youth behaviour concerns are frequently raised and discussed in North Otago community forums and often the main reason for referral to community agency’s like Strengthening Families. There is also an increasing level of single parents in the district (17.6% of people are separated, divorced or widowed and 12.4% of families in the Waitaki region are one-parent with children families) struggling to provide the much needed support to this group of vulnerable children.
Health Professionals state that there are increasing trends of younger clients needing counselling services and support and a widening gap in funded services for necessary earlier intervention. This lack of support to this vulnerable group is well evidenced to correlate to increasing problems with mental health and addictions, drug and alcohol abuse and youth suicide. For the whole of the Southern region the Waitaki district has the highest average suicide rate 13.2 per 100,000 per annum so it’s time we stand up and make a change. With 18% of the Waitaki population under the age of 15 the OCEANS Grief and Loss Programme is designed not only to directly benefit those children but will indirectly improve the lives of the wider family and community providing a more stable and positive outlook for the future.
The Programme is a huge success in South Canterbury with many success stories of children learning to talk about their loss or losses. Many come feeling different from others and unsupported, but upon meeting other children with similar feeling associated with their loss they realise they are ‘normal’ and grief is normal in a person's life. Each group is made up of up to six children or young people and they are supported through the programme by two trained and caring Facilitators.
At present North Otago has no similar services available, and with the need so great and no government funding available for such work, we are encouraging our community to support Anglican Family Care to deliver this programme. You can support the on-going OCEANS programme by donating online at www.anglicanfamilycare.org.nz