Blue Ridge Hospice has developed a unique, gamified approach to bereavement care that the agency will test in partnership with seven other providers across the country.

The program, Adventures in Grief, involves a Dungeons and Dragons-style tabletop role playing game module designed to provide therapeutic support to bereaved adolescents and young adults. The program aims to foster emotional healing through creative, low-risk social interactions guided by professional grief counselors.

Blue Ridge social worker Tina Thomas developed the game module in partnership with Dr. Elizabeth Kilmer, a training and researcher from Save Point Behavioral Health.

“Blue Ridge Hospice is leading this program and the disbursement of the funding to the partner sites,” Thomas told Hospice News in an email. “Partner sites were selected through an extensive application process. We focused on population served, number of adolescent and young adults served, ability to participate fully in training and agreement to start a group.”

The participating organizations include:

• Avow Hospice (Naples, Florida)
• Children’s Bereavement Center Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen, Texas)
• Connections Plus (Lexington, VA)
• EverHeart Hospice (Greenville, Ohio)
• Hospice of the Chesapeake-Chesapeake Life Center (Severna Park, Maryland)
• The Elizabeth Hospice (Escondido, California)
• The Grief Center of Southwest Colorado (Durango, Colorado)

The program was financed through a $340,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation. Each partner site will receive $15,000 to support the 10-week program implementation and continuous consultation, along with 20 hours of facilitator training for as many as 24 grief professionals.

“Together, we are creating pathways of hope and resilience for grieving youth,” Susana Calley, director of the Blue Ridge Hospice Center for Hope & Healing, said in a statement. “This program represents a powerful convergence of creativity and therapeutic support, and we are honored to have these seven organizations join us on this journey.”