, /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Ridge Hospice has been awarded a two-year, research grant from the New York Life Foundation to study the effectiveness of its innovative Adventures Through Grief program, utilizing a custom tabletop role-playing game (RPG) similar to Dungeons and Dragons tailored for bereaved adolescents and young adults. The Adventures Through Grief program utilizes a therapeutic method originally developed by Game to Grow, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the use of table-top games for therapeutic, educational, and community growth. The method was modified by Blue Ridge Hospice to specifically address grief, as made possible by a previous Grief Reach grant award from the New York Life Foundation in 2022.
Throughout the program, participants will use creative social skills to tackle imaginary dangerous obstacles and tasks. Exploring these challenges in the low-risk environment of a game and guided by trained and certified staff of grief counselors, the Game to Grow model creates opportunities to learn new coping skills and allows participants to express their grief in indirect and non-threatening ways. "We aspire to innovatively support socially isolated young adults navigating grief, particularly those hesitant to engage in traditional counseling," expressed , LCSW, MS, Children and Families Grief Support Coordinator at Blue Ridge Hospice.
"Through our unique therapeutically applied tabletop RPG module developed especially for this program and the purpose of.
