Health Check: Camp BraveHeart

By: Barbara Morse Silva | NBC 10
Published: August 25, 2010

Many dance to the beat of a different drummer, and that's OK especially at Camp BraveHeart's drum circle.

It's a popular spot at the free two-day camp held at the YMCA Camp Fuller in Wakefield. It's where all of the younger kids get their groove on.

And for them, it's much needed. All of the children have suffered the loss of a loved one.

"Children's grief is very different in some ways. Children go to school, particularly with that coming up soon, they feel very isolated sometimes. They're the only one in the classroom particularly. If it's the loss of a parent, they tend to be feeling isolated. So when they come here, regardless of the activities that are going on, they connect with other kids," said Deanna Upchurch of Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island, who started the camp.

Since the camp opened in 2006, the enrollment has more than tripled. This year, for the first time, there are 10 junior counselors.

"All who have camped with us before and have all lost a family member, so they're back here to kind of pay it forward as they put it," Upchurch said.

"I wanted to help out the little kids like the counselors helped me when I first came here," said junior counselor Desiree Olavisi.

Olavisi came to Camp BraveHeart four years ago, shortly after she lost her mom.

Scott Houtchens, another junior counselor, lost his sister last March.

"This camp really helped 'cause when people say they know how you feel, they really don't. But with people here, they've been through it and it helps being with people who can relate," he said.

The young people at Camp BraveHeart feel free to express their feelings in many ways -- through their art work, through dance and even through gardening.

And for those young people who feel lost and isolated, there are junior counselors who have walked in their shoes.

"I think they really don't know what to do so I think I can help them by my experiences of how I've dealt with it," Houtchens said.

"I think that they can take comfort in knowing that I've been through it and I can kind of help them try to understand as the counselors that were around helped me understand what I was going through," said junior counselor Alyssa Viens.