The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, September 26, 2013 | 6 Volunteers needed to help grieving children by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver Spotlight "Connected to your Community" V other. The Oakville-based organization provides peer support to children, teens and families -- across Halton -- who have experienced a death in their immediate family. The support it offers is ongoing for as long as it's needed. Currently, the Lighthouse Program serves more than 40 families. It does so with grant funding and 27 volunteer facilitators -- Murcar is one. "It's de nitely rewarding. Although it's de nitely a commitment in my life, it's not a job. It doesn't feel like work at all. I'm proud to be a volunteer," said Murcar, 29. "I know anyone else would say the same thing, even those who aren't volunteers anymore, but are still part of the family." With children back in school, the need for volunteers and peer support groups is high right now, Murcar said. The Lighthouse Program estimates it will need 15-20 new volunteer facilitators in the coming year. Seeking volunteers "We're looking for new volunteers all the time and there are people leaving the program, too. Sometimes they can't keep the commitment if they've moved far away or have other obligations," said Murcar. Volunteers receive three days of extensive training and then buddy with other facilitators before committing two-three hours every other week. Support groups meet bi-weekly on weekday evenings at the Lighthouse located at 82 Wilson St. Grieving children are assisted by facilitators through group discussions, games, art activities and playtime. "It's just talking, hanging out (and) really just being a friend. It's not always about the loss of the loved one. Sometimes they come in and it's never mentioned," said Murcar. "It breaks my heart." The organization serves participants from three age groups -- teens, pre-teens and children as young as three. Murcar works with youths aged three-11. While there are a total of eight support groups, olunteering at the Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children has taught Emily Murcar that no loss is greater than an- she said the numbers are constantly increasing. "Our problem is not nding people. Our needs are (to be) able to accommodate more volunteers to accommodate all these children and families," said Murcar. She noted that each group usually has eight-12 participants who are put together based on a number of things in common, such as death experience or if they're in the program with a sibling or friend. "We have one pair who are friends (that) requested to be together in the same group and they both lost their father. We make accommodations like that," she said. Murcar is enrolled in a one-year, post-graduate child life studies program at McMaster University. She said it just "made sense" to volunteer because grief is one of her areas of focus when working with children at the hospital. A focus on children "I want to see children in a different light because I see them in the schoolyard and at the hospital," said Murcar, who joined the organization last year. What she enjoys the most is "seeing the same faces all the time and not knowing what to expect on one hand, but on the other, you do know," Murcar said. "For example, this one kid comes in and touches the memory wall every day. "My favourite part is seeing the relationships that develop between them and the things they come up with," she noted. When it comes to grief, there are no stages that children go through to overcome it, she explained. For some in the program, the loss is "very recent." "It's a fallacy to think that everyone is going to move through these ve perfect stages of grief. You're done the denial stage and now you're going to this stage... grief doesn't work like that," said Murcar. The Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children receives support from the United Ways of Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. "Without donations, without funding (and) without the support of volunteers, the Lighthouse (Program) wouldn't be here. We wouldn't have enough people to accommodate the families that need us." For more information on becoming a volunteer facilitator, contact program director Candace Ray at 905-337-2333 or cray@ grievingchildrenlighthouse.org. NEIL OLIVER Vice­President and Group Publisher DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Halton Region Editor in Chief Emily Murcar is a volunteer facilitator in grief counselling for children at the Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children. The program is in need of more volunteers as its population grows. | photo by Riziero Vertolli ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog) Volume 51 | Number 115 467 Speers Road, Oakville ON (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Editorial Department: (905) 632-0588 Advertising Department (905) 845-3824 Classi ed Advertising: (905) 632-4444 Circulation: 5300 Harvester Rd., Burlington (905) 631-6095 DANIEL BAIRD Director of Advertising ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor