TAPS Holds California Regional Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp for Families of America’s Fallen Military Heroes
Peer-Based Support Helps Adults and Children Find Hope and Healing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 26, 2018
ARLINGTON, Va. – More than 300 family members of America's fallen military heroes will gather at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) California Regional Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp from June 29-July 1 at the Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry, Calif. Those attending will share their stories to honor their loved ones while learning how to cope with grief and find healing in their shared experiences.
TAPS provides a full weekend of programming designed to address the needs of all military loss survivors through proven best practices and a dynamic, peer-based model of care. Workshops are created and facilitated by subject matter experts in the fields of grief and loss, bereavement, trauma, suicide prevention, as well as suicide postvention survivor care.
For children, the TAPS Good Grief Camp will be led by experts in child development, mental health and education to provide a safe space for military children to explore grief and embrace healing. Coping skills are learned through games, crafts and other age-appropriate activities. Children and teens will gain a network of new friends their own age who are also grieving a fallen hero and learn that they are not alone in their grief. They will have opportunities to connect one-on-one with military mentors and come to understand that they are part of an American legacy of service and sacrifice.
Volunteers, including military service members and recent veterans, have completed a mentor training program to prepare to work with surviving children attending the Good Grief Camp and assist in supporting families throughout the weekend.
INTERVIEW
OPPORTUNITIES:
Saturday, June 30 from 9 to 10 a.m. - Opening Ceremonies
TAPS President and Founder Bonnie Carroll will welcome families to the seminar. Interviews are available following the ceremony with Ms. Carroll, grief experts and surviving military families attending the event.
AVAILABLE
FOR INTERVIEW: Bonnie Carroll, TAPS President and Founder
Heather Stang, TAPS Board of Advisors and author of Mindfulness & Grief. Heather
holds a Masters’ degree in Thanatology, the study of death, dying and bereavement.
She is also a certified yoga therapist who discovered yoga and mindfulness meditation
after decades of “coping” with grief, stress and anxiety in unskillful ways. Her
mindfulness training courses are offered online, at conferences and workshops around
the country, and in her hometown at the Frederick Meditation Center in Maryland.
Franklin Cook, MA, CPC, TAPS Seminar Faculty. He is dedicated to delivering peer
support services to help bereaved people cope with a stigmatized death (e.g., from
suicide or substance use) or any sudden death. Franklin continues to deliver direct
peer services to bereaved people in many forms (small groups, online, etc.), including
via telephone. Currently, he is launching a new national initiative, Support After a
Death by Overdose (sadod.org), which offers presentations, training, and other
services to families, service providers, and communities affected by the opioid
overdose epidemic in the United States.
Surviving military families participating in the seminar
MEDIA RSVP REQUESTED:
Please email Rita Barry-Corke at rita@taps.org or call (202) 588-8722 (TAPS) to attend any part of the seminar or arrange interviews with TAPS staff or participants.
ABOUT TAPS
The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is the national organization providing compassionate care for the families of America’s fallen military heroes and has offered support to more than 75,000 surviving family members of our fallen military and their caregivers since 1994. TAPS provides peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, grief seminars and retreats for adults, Good Grief Camps for children, case work assistance, connections to community-based care, online and in-person support groups and a 24/7 resource and information helpline for all who have been affected by a death in the Armed Forces. Services are provided free of charge. For more information go to www.taps.org or call the toll-free TAPS resource and information helpline at 1.800.959.TAPS (8277).
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