We offer a continuum of care for children and youth impacted by grief and trauma through our C.H.I.L.D. Program’s wide array of services.
“Before coming to the Wendt Center, I really didn’t care about school or anything — I was like, ‘Forget it, I’m not doing the work’ — and then my whole attitude changed. I started to care about myself, about school and about other people.”
— Wendt Center Teen Client
C.H.I.L.D. – Child Healing to Improve Learning and Development
C.H.I.L.D. offers the following grief and trauma services
- Individual and Group Counseling at our northwest office for children ages 7-18.
- Wendt Resilient Scholars Project (RSP) provides group and individual counseling at school- and community-based locations throughout the District to children who have experienced at least one traumatic event.
- Crisis Response at schools, community centers, and other locations to help children who have been traumatized by acts of community violence, disaster, and/or corresponding death(s).
- Commemorative Community Healing Events for families and communities impacted by loss, such as candlelight vigils.
- Grief Camp (Camp Forget-Me-Not/Camp Erin DC) is a free therapeutic camp for children and youth grieving the loss of a loved one. Since the pandemic, our weekend sleepaway camp format has transformed into a series of three one-day camps, each segmented by age.
- Grieving Families Healing Together provides workshops designed to help families remember and honor loved ones who have died. Grieving families connect virtually to learn new skills and techniques to communicate and cope with their feelings and thoughts of grief.
- Volunteer Support, including mentoring for children and parents.
- Information and Education on Child Grief and Trauma provides caregivers and school communities with the information and resources needed to help children cope with traumatic loss.
- Training and Education of providers and the public on issues related to childhood grief and trauma. Wendt Center teams of therapists and graduate interns provide training or consultation to local schools, community centers, and other social service agencies throughout the Greater Washington Region, including consultation to facilitate on-site support for children.
- Professional Training by senior staff clinicians to any mental health professional interested in providing individual or group grief counseling services to children and teens.
Wendt Resilient Scholars Project (RSP)
The RSP clinicians provide therapy and case management services to DC children/adolescents and their families affected by trauma and/or loss. RSP collaborates with youth, their families, and community partner staff to improve their understanding of trauma/loss and allow them to develop coping skills that are healthy and practical. Weekly sessions provide youth and their families the space to process their experiences and discover their innate resilience.
Wendt Resilient Scholars Project – School Based (RSP-SB) Services
RSP-SB Services are grounded in evidence-based treatment models such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), play therapy, and mindfulness. The program empowers children and adolescents by highlighting their existing strength. Throughout the school year, RSP clinicians facilitate group and individual therapy services using games, art, experiential activities, writing, and other modalities that explain concepts to participants in developmentally appropriate ways. As part of RSP-SB Services, RSP clinicians also provide trainings to partner staff on incorporating trauma and bereavement informed practices into their environments.
Wendt Resilient Scholars Project – Home Based (RSP-HB) Services
RSP-HB Services are designed to supplement RSP-SB Services by engaging entire families in the treatment process. Using the trauma adapted family connections (TA-FC) model, RSP clinicians also aim to help families improve access to needed resources, increase safety skills, reduce youth absenteeism from school, and/or improve youth grades over a period of six months. RSP clinicians build on the treatment models used in RSP-SB Services by incorporating principles from narrative therapy, motivational interviewing, and family systems therapy to work toward goals established with each family. By participating in activities, games, and conversations that help families learn about trauma/loss, families also work toward improving communication and family cohesion.
Click Here to Refer a Student to RSP
Our Philosophy of Working with Children and Teens
Children express themselves through play and action. Toys, games, activities and drawing offer youth a way to explore feelings and life situations. Fantasy provides a safe place where youngsters can look at all kinds of issues.
Talking is often not the most complete way for children, and even teens, to communicate their feelings. They may have difficulty expressing the complex way emotions affect their lives. Young children have not learned the vocabulary and the meaning of feelings. For instance, what is the difference between “frustrated,” “scared,” “guilty,” and “anxious?” Very few children could explain the subtle differences and how the feelings influence their thoughts and behavior. Yet almost all children could play out the feelings with puppets, paints or games of imagination. In the presence of a trained therapist, play becomes the key to understanding and helping the child find ways to cope.
Whether in groups or individually, we find that play and activities are an important part of our work with children and teens. Sometimes it gets quite active, sometimes it’s silent. Counseling sessions last about 50 minutes and therapy takes several weeks or longer. It may be a continuous or intermittent process because it always responds to each child’s needs.
It is also important to realize that your child will probably not return from a session able or willing to talk about what they learned. How many times have you asked your child, “What did you do in school today?” only to be told, “Nothing?” Yet, when report cards come out, it’s clear your child was doing something. Play therapy is like that. Parents frequently wonder what throwing a ball or acting out Beauty and the Beast could possibly have to do with grief. But for a child, either could have important meaning.
We must also remember that confidentiality is as essential to children as it is to adults. Our conversations with the families always respect the children’s privacy (unless, of course, there is a question of safety to the children or someone else). Working with families to serve children in the most gentle and appropriate way is our primary concern.
For more information, contact our Intake Coordinator, at (202) 204-5021.
