U.S. Games
Workshops Help Games Attendees with the Healing Process
By Pam Colvell-Gleason
Donor families who attend the U.S. Transplant games have the opportunity to participate in the Giving, Grieving and Growing workshops hosted by the National Donor Family Council (NDFC) to help them with their grief journey.
Topics include advocacy, public speaking and education sessions. Subjects discussed help families to answer questions about brain death, tissue donation and other issues surrounding donation. Workshops include exercise for the mind and body as well as interactive themes for sharing our memories.
Many families at the “what to do with our memories” workshop found it helpful to adorn a shadow-box with photographs, pictures, buttons and stencils of the person they are grieving. Making a pocketsize journal with words, photos and decals can be healing and expressive of the love and pain that is bursting in their heart.
Participating in sharing sessions with other families can help with the healing as families listen to one another while opening their hearts and imparting their stories of support and repair along their journey.
One workshop helps families to create a quilt patch for the NDFC quilt, “Patches of Love”. Some come to the workshop to get ideas, some come to get help completing their patch and others come to make a patch from start to finish. Volunteers help with drawing, computer graphics, iron fusion and sewing to make a patch. The patches are a tangible tribute of their loved one’s gift, and will be seen by many who observe the quilt panels displayed across the country.
The workshops are a stepping stone in the grief journey. One family said, “This is my first games and I feel that I have been enveloped by the love of many who understand and greatly appreciate the opportunity to attend these workshops at the games.” May we all be helped by our experiences at the Games.
