The holidays are upon us again. Holiday traditions can be wonderful and complex. They can provide a sense of stability in our ever-changing world, especially for children.  However, they can also compound stress and exacerbate grief.  The grief response is triggered by loss.  Losses can include the death of a loved one, divorce, moving, serious illness, financial hardship, or a loss of tradition to name a few.   

Whitney Bakarich, LPC and her team Wendy Taylor and Kelsey Bricker lead Northwest Colorado Health’s Youth Resiliency program. The program teaches resiliency skills which supports children, adolescents and teens who have experienced stress, trauma, and loss. 

Taking time to mindfully plan what traditions are important to carve out time for in the next few weeks will set you and your family up to have a more enjoyable holiday season.  This can be as simple as sitting down for 15 minutes and blocking out time to ensure you can enjoy the traditions without feeling rushed last minute.

Is it important to bake together?  Cooking together gives kids the opportunity to learn new skills in the kitchen and is a great way to connect screen-free. 

Is it important to decorate your house?  Maybe you take an evening and make decorations for the house.  This can be as simple as saving a few paper towel/toilet paper tubes, cutting them into rings and gluing together to make snowflakes.  These can then be spray-painted to add some flair.

Is it important to take time and remember 2023?  Paint a shoebox and adorn it with tissue paper, buttons, and other embellishments to create a memory box. Fill it with photos and trinkets that remind the child of wonderful things that happened during the year, to remind of the person who died, or the life before the loss.  It can be powerful to acknowledge that happy experiences can co-exist with hardship. 

Is it important to simply take time to connect?  Listen to each other’s favorite songs together.  Make a family playlist where everyone contributes a song.  Music is a powerful and accessible way to connect, even if physical distance keeps people apart.  Music can ignite the entire limbic system (the emotional center) of the brain and sound tethers experiences to memory.

Northwest Colorado Health’s Youth Resiliency program provides outreach services, support groups and education to youth coping with these types of adversities. For more information, visit northwestcoloradohealth.org/youthresiliency or call Whitney Bakarich, LPC at 970-846-0787. 

Northwest Colorado Health will also once again offer holiday events to support community members of all ages who are grieving.

• Celebration of Light will take place on Thursday, December 7 from 5 to 6:30pm at the VFW Post 4265 in Craig; and on Monday, December 11 from 5:30 to 7:00pm at Bud Werner Memorial Library Hall. This event is free and open to all community members who have experienced a loss. Gather with community members and celebrate the memory of someone you love by decorating and lighting a candle. Candles will be provided, as well as hot soups and chili.
• Blue Christmas Service will take place on Monday, December 18 at 6:30pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (846 Oak Street, Steamboat Springs). This service is to support individuals who are grieving or feeling down this holiday season. Northwest Colorado Health’s Hospice program is hosting the service in partnership with local faith-based communities. For more information, please contact Dr. Jo Anne Grace at 970-846-8319.

To learn more about upcoming events this holiday season, please visit northwestcoloradohealth.org/events.