MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Teens from across Middle Tennessee gathered in Rutherford County this weekend for a unique opportunity.
Eighteen young people converged on a youth camp in LaVergne for a grief counseling session sponsored by Alive Hospice.
The organization provides palliative care for Tennesseans facing their last days, and also provides counseling to those left behind. Alive used a rock climbing wall to challenge the teens, all of whom have recently suffered the loss of a loved one.
Pam Quaintance is one of Alive’s grief counselors.
“When you lose somebody – have that kind of loss in your life – your entire world shifts and changes. It’s kind of this huge – one way of thinking of it is it’s almost this mountain of grief that you’ve got to deal with and overcome. The tower is just a really good analogy of that.”
One of the teens in attendance was 13 year old Kendreya Lee-Pointer.
“It was nice, because if I wanted to give up people would cheer me on and say that I could do it. So I took it in and I conquered my fear.”
This is the fourth year in a row that Alive Hospice has held the camp, and plans to offer it again next year for grieving teens here in the mid-state.
Learn more at Alive Hospice.