Cuyahoga Arts & Culture ...project support grant

Spirit Doll

Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, OH has recently been awarded a Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Project Support grant of $11,274. This grant funding will support the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center’s Healing Arts and Fabric & Feelings programs offered in Cuyahoga County throughout 2011. Like all bereavement center programs, Healing Arts workshops and Fabric & Feelings groups are offered to any member of the community who has experienced a loss due to death.

Visual Stories...

The act of using art to fulfill a basic human need can be powerful and transformative, and the experience can benefit both the individual and the community. Art therapy programs foster a sense of community and offer the bereaved an opportunity to identify and express feelings of grief, develop coping strategies and remember and honor their deceased loved one. Creating art can foster a renewed sense of confidence and purpose, and our bereavement programs help to make the arts accessible to a broad segment of the population.

Landscapes of the heart

The bereavement center of Hospice of the Western Reserve is proud to be among the 130 local non-profit organizations selected for Cuyahoga Arts & Culture funding in 2011.

Click here for times and locations of upcoming events.

In the midst of grief, can you feel thankful?

I do a lot of teaching and have one slide in my PowerPoint presentation that lists thankfulness as a symptom of grief and loss. When I open it up to the audience they usually comment that perhaps the bereaved is thankful that their loved one is no longer in pain or is no longer suffering. And that may be very true, but there is more.

A few years ago I heard Ted Bowman speak on Thankfulness for Grief and Grieving: Exploring Paradoxes. Mr. Bowman linked thankfulness and grieving, not by minimizing the pain and suffering that is experienced during grief, but by encouraging grievers to pay attention to thankfulness in the midst of grieving. Click here to read more.

Creating a legacy through Ethical Wills

When a person dies…it’s as though a library burned down.
-----African proverb

Arlene Harris created her first quilt for her parent’s 57th wedding anniversary. Little did she know it would be their last. Her mother died a few months later. Her dad moved in with her sister and after a month, asked that the quilt be hung in the living where he could share his memories with family and friends. A couple of years ago, Arlene’s dad died and now the quilt hangs in Arlene’s home. Each time she looks at it, it brings back “incredible memories.” It has become a legacy that will be passed on to future generations.

Each November, the hospice community works to raise awareness about hospice and palliative care during National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.

One service hospice offers is helping patients and families develop and create legacy work. Sometimes called life closure or an ethical will, legacy work is a collection of personal values and family history that can be passed on to loved ones. Some see it as a way to learn about one’s self, reflect on life and to affirm the importance of others in their life.

Click here to read more.