Model of Support

SandCastles believes in the quality of services we provide to our families.   That is why our volunteers go through 32 hours of training and mentorship.  Recently over 30 volunteers had the opportunity to go through the mandatory Model of Support Training.

With the Model of Support, facilitators will learn an easier approach to the old SandCastles philosophy: “follow their lead”.  The words “Respect, Acknowledge, Reflect, Normalize, Feelings, Coping and Inform”, help serve as reminders to all of us, to respect families where they are and for who they are.  Remember that we do not have to agree with their approach to support them in their journey of grief.

THANK YOU to all of you who came to our in-services.  If you have not attended this in-service, please give your Program Coordinator a call.   Help us continue to provide the high quality of service we offer.  Would you want anything less for your family?

We respect the many different ways SandCastles families feel, believe, express, and behave; We respect the families and follow their lead, even if we do not understand their stories.

We acknowledge what families say to us.

We mirror back to families what they communicate to us.

We normalize the families’ experience as part of the group format.  “I wonder if anyone else has…….?”

We remember that feelings are not right or wrong.  How families feel is how families feel.

We know that there are many ways to cope.  We can help facilitate how families learn to cope without hurting themselves and/or someone else, either emotionally or physically.  “I wonder what you can do when….?”

We keep staff informed.  The site Program Coordinator is informed first, who can then support decisions about what occurs next.  We also need to inform families when the confidentiality rule needs to be broken because of potential or actual harm to self or others.