CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — Dealing with death can be difficult, especially for young people, but a free peer support program in Camp Hill aims to provide hope amid sorrow.
The Highmark Caring Place Peer Support program gives people an opportunity to connect with others and process death in their family. The facility offers a chill zone, meeting rooms and activities for people to channel emotions.
Chris Wilcox, the mother of a program participant, lost her husband to cancer in January of 2017. He left her and their four children behind. Wilcox says she came to the Caring Place expecting help for her daughter and ended up receiving some for herself.
“When my husband died, it was shocking,” Wilcox said. “I felt shellshocked. When I came to the Caring Place and I sat in an adult room with other people who had similar losses to me, I was relieved."
Terri Bowling, the Highmark Caring Place Program Manager, said children and young adults are underserved when it comes to grief services and the need is growing due to the opioid crisis, mental health challenges and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If those needs are not being met, those needs can turn into very adult-type diagnoses down the road,” Bowling said. “There’s lots of risks in not making sure those needs are taken care of.”
Wilcox says that being a part of the Highmark Caring Place program is a step toward wholeness and the progress her daughter has made is having a ripple effect on her family.
“She has a better handle on her grief. She's able to talk through it with me,” Wilcox said. “My other children have had a more difficult time trying to find their path, but I can see the difference in what the Caring Place did."
The Highmark Caring Place hopes to give people hope in grief and a safe place on the healing journey. In the future, Highmark plans to expand its program to help grieving seniors.