skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

White House is 'close' on Japan, India tariff agreements but expect them to be light on specifics; Families in limbo following federal energy assistance program cuts- we have reports from NH and MD; NV adopted CA's 'clean car' standard, rule now under GOP examination.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Educators worry about President Trump's education plan, as federal judges block several of his executive orders. Battles over voting rules are moving in numerous courts. And FSU students protest a state bill lowering the age to buy a gun.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Pandemic Funds Brought Grief Care to More Colorado Students

play audio
Play

Monday, March 6, 2023   

A groundbreaking bereavement service is expanding efforts to reach kids where they are: in schools, churches and other community sites.

Emily Napier, community-based care team manager for Judi's House, which has been providing comprehensive grief care for more than two decades, noted one in 14 Colorado youths will experience the death of a mom, dad, sister or brother by age 18.

She said while the experience of grief is unique for each child, everyone needs to be able to talk about how they are feeling without being judged.

"Grief is a universal experience," Napier pointed out. "Grief is a normal, healthy reaction to a loss. So it makes sense to feel sadness, or feel anger, or even worry or confusion. All of those different emotions are normal, and expected, and OK."

In addition to providing grief counseling in-house and in middle schools, Judi's House was able to tap pandemic funding to offer services at elementary schools. One curriculum serves third through fifth grade students, and "Judi's Rainbow" was created to provide therapy tailored to the needs of kindergarten through second grade students.

Napier acknowledged much of the work is about breaking through social stigma associated with death, assuring kids that "dead" and "dying" are not bad words. Middle school-age kids process their grief through journaling, expressing thoughts and feelings verbally, and learning coping skills, and Napier said what works for kindergarten-age children, who grieve just as much as older kids and adults, is much different.

"How do kids at this level really understand and take in the world?" Napier emphasized. "A lot of that is through creative expression. It's through reading children's books that have grief and loss themes in them, and kids being able to see themselves in those characters and feel less alone."

Founded in 2002 by Brian and Brook Griese, Judi's House was named after the former Denver Bronco quarterback's mother, who died when he was 12. Napier noted bereavement services, which are provided at no cost to families, give kids, and adults, a variety of tools they can pull from their coping toolbox.

"So things like 'getting it out;' coping activities that will involve a physical release," Napier explained. "Maybe that's being active in sports, punching a pillow, moving your body. Sometimes grief can feel really overwhelming in our bodies, and so being able to get it out is a way to cope."


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $3.1 billion for "underserved farmers" and land access, according to the USDA. (Pixabay)

Environment

play sound

Frozen federal grants have thrown a South Florida farm training program into chaos, leaving a nonprofit scrambling to salvage it after sudden funding …


Environment

play sound

North Dakota lawmakers have opted to side with farm chemical manufacturers facing legal challenges about the safety of their products. The state has …

play sound

It has been a busy week for supporters of higher education in Illinois, with two separate protests at Northern Illinois University and Northeastern …


Social Issues

play sound

More than 60 Pennsylvania counties do not have enough public defenders for their caseloads, forcing some, including in Erie County, to each handle …

Originally operated by Entergy, Palisades was acquired by Holtec International in June 2022.
(JHVEPhoto/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

The owner of Michigan's Palisades Nuclear Plant is getting another $47 million to restart the facility. It is the third installment of a $1.5 …

Environment

play sound

Next week, Congress is expected to vote on whether to roll back states' authority to set their own clean car and truck standards. Research shows …

Health and Wellness

play sound

The Alaska branch of the American Heart Association is helping save lives by teaching the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021