Fernside in the News

• The art of grieving (2008)
  October 2008, 994 words
  Grace Ries pieced together this collage over a few days this summer at Fernside, a Blue Ash-based center for grieving children and their families. She was trying to show how she felt after that August day five years ago, when her little brother, Charley, died and the house suddenly got so quiet. Her work will be part of a display of art created by Fernside children that opens Thursday in Walnut Hills.
  
  
• Phillies' pitcher partners with Fernside programs (2008)
  April 2008, 334 words
  A local agency's summer camps for grieving children are getting a boost through a new partnership with the Moyer Foundation, started by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen.
  
  
• Ace in the Hole (2008)
  January 2008, 603 words
  Truer words were never spoken. Chad’s next shot made a hole-in-one on the par 3, 184-yard hole, to the delight of spectators who had braved the on-again, off-again rainy weather in support of the Hospice of Cincinnati Summertime Classic. The annual event benefits Fernside, a center for grieving children. The winning shot awarded Chad, a Fernside alumnus, a two-year lease on a Jaguar in addition to other prizes.
  
  
• Burrell's gift: a place to grieve (2007)
  October 13, 2007, 461 words
  Hundreds of families here and across the region went into mourning Wednesday at the news of the death of Rachel Burrell, founder of Fernside, Greater Cincinnati's nationally lauded center that serves grieving children.
  
  
• Kentucky deaths: Rachel Burrell, 79, Founded Fernside Center (2007)
  October 12, 2007, 683 words
  A tragedy in her own life inspired Rachel Burrell to help others handle the tragedies in theirs.
  Mrs. Burrell, of Cincinnati, who died Wednesday at 79, founded the Fernside Center for Grieving Children after the death of her son, David, in 1982.
  
  
• Rachel Burrell reached out to help grieving children heal (2007)
  October 13, 2007, 686 words
  Rachel Ober Burrell, co-founder of Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children in Blue Ash, died Wednesday of unknown causes in her room at Carriage Court. She was 79.
  "She was an advocate for children and grieving families really all over the world," said her son Peter Burrell, of Mount Lookout. "Her vision was to let the children create the place and create the way in which they dealt with their loved one's death."
  
  
• Coroner: She shot kids in heart (2007)
  August 2, 2007, 854 words
  A Delhi Township woman who shot and killed her two young children Tuesday before she killed herself had thought about the act before she did it. Mary McCutchen, a staff member at Fernside, said earlier Wednesday that one of the most difficult parts of a situation like the one in Delhi is how to discuss what happened with children and "explain the unexplainable."
  
  
• Getting Past the Grief (2006)
  August 18, 2006
  It's not fair for a parent to bury a son or daughter. It's not fair for a child still in middle school to lose a parent. But the workers and volunteers at Fernside, a nonprofit organization that supports grieving children who have lost a loved one, do whatever they can to level the playing field.
  
  
• A Place to Face Loss (2006)
  August 7, 2006, 354 words
  TODAY IN LIFE/SECTION D Fernside helps grieving kids express pain – and cope. When 35-year old Tonyah Harrison died from breast cancer, Carolyn Willis lost her daughter and seven children lost their mother. In January, the Forest Park family began attending support groups at Blue Ash- based Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children. “Fernside has helped all of us. “Everybody there knows your pain,” says Willis, 58, who has custody of her grandchildren, ages 6 to 16.
  
  
• A Safe Place to Grieve (2006)
  August 7, 2006, 2155 words
  FACES OF FERNSIDE For 20 years, Blue Ash-based institution has brought solace to families. For 20 years, Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children has offered free support groups and other services to help local families cope with the loss of loved ones. Most support groups meet in Blue Ash, but there are satellite locations east, west and north of Cincinnati. “(Fernside has) developed a positive, wonderful reputation, not just in this region.”
  
  
• Fernside: A Safe Place to Mourn, Heal (2006)
  August 8, 2006, 366 words
  EDITORIAL - Greater Cincinnati is home to its share of firsts and bests, but few are more significant – or poignant – than Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children. For 20 years, Fernside has broken the silence that often surrounds grieving children and stopped the isolation. The Blue Ash center offers peer support groups, resources, referrals, school programs, parent programs and a summer camp for bereaved children.
  
  
• STRONGER Than Their Struggles (2005)
  December 18, 2005, 2574 words
  TODAY’S CHILD: RESILIENT KIDS This is the fifth in our series ‘Today’s Child,’ spotlighting important, but often overlooked, children’s issues. Elizabeth also volunteers at Fernside Center for Grieving Children in Blue Ash, where she attended programs after Danielle’s death. In one activity there, children break apart a clay flowerpot, then write memories of their deceased family member on the pieces and glue the pot back together.
  
  
• Hometown Heroes: Losing Own Dad at 7 Spurs Help to Kids (2005)
  August 15, 2005, 486 words
  HOMETOWN HEROES Fernside volunteer goes to meetings, camp to ease grief. MARIEMONT – Ted Ackerman was just 7 when he lost his dad, and he still remembers the pain and effort to cope with the loss. He had important support from his mother and others, but no formal grief support. In 1995, he learned about Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children, an affiliate of Hospice of Cincinnati, Inc. He saw the need and offered to help. A decade later, he’s still helping.
  
  
• Rachel Burrell (2003)
  June 3, 2003, 681 words
  Two first-grade boys were playing together. Giggling, scuffling. The usual lively boy bonding. Finally, one child was ready to say something important. “My mother died,” he said. “Butthead!” the other boy exclaimed with an air of shocked recognition. “So did mine.” Their tragedy. Their language. Their discovery that they are not alone. Adults call it peer support. The kids were at Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children.
  
  
• Teens Deaths a Blow to Schools (2002)
  December 26, 2002, 1731 words
  At St. Ursula, prayer and counseling help to heal. Editor’s note: This is the first Of a two-part series examining the impact of fatal car accidents this year involving teen drivers in the Tristate. Through their grief, seniors at St. Ursula Academy have matured beyond their years. St. Ursula called in Fernside Center for Grieving Children to help. Fernside staffers met with parents, held a student meeting and then met with small groups of students who were most affected.
  
  
• Camp WeBelong – Kids Come to Terms with Death (2001)
  September 12, 2001, 682 words
  Parents should reassure, but it’s OK to admit fear, too. Imagine the fears that surfaced in the mind of a child watching the coverage of the World Trade Center and Pentagon on TV Tuesday. Could that happen here? Am I safe? “Children can be traumatized,” says Christi Kettman, outreach coordinator for the Fernside Center for the Grieving Children in Norwood. “Older children can relate it to the feelings of a peer there, or someone’s mom or dad, or think, “I was on a plane.”
  
  
• When Holidays Renew Grief (2001)
  May 10, 2001, 1988 words
  COUNSELORS SAY TALKING IS FIRST STEP IN “GETTING THROUGH” MOTHER’S DAY WITHOUT MOM One of the most difficult passages in life is dealing with the death of someone close to you. It’s the missing part of your life, the void and dread of going on without them. All these feelings are magnified when the someone is your parent. “Just acknowledging that holidays like Mother’s or Father’s Day can be a difficult time is a first step toward dealing with the day,” says Christi Kettman, outreach coordinator for Fernside: A Center for Grieving Children.