At 8 years old, Blaine Lofton suddenly lost three aunts and an uncle within six months. He didn’t understand what death meant, and he couldn’t understand why this was happening so fast.

His mom and dad were upset. He felt guilty when he cried about his aunts around them—he was just making them sadder, he thought.

His mother, Ginger, noticed Blaine wasn’t dealing with his feelings. She heard about Camp Odyssey, an overnight camp in Elberta that helps children ages 6–14 who have lost a loved one or friend learn how to express grief in a healthy, safe way.

“He was able to release those feelings he wouldn’t release at home,” Ginger said of Blaine’s experience at last year’s camp. “I think it really helped him a lot.”

Camp director Kim Smith said helping kids like Blaine learn to express grief is the top priority of the two-day camp.

“Our first goal is to give the kids a positive outlook for their grief or their feelings,” Smith said. “A lot of kids can turn that into bullying, isolation or bad behavior at school, so we give them a lot of positive outlets to release that grief.”

And in its four-year history, the response from parents and schools about Camp Odyssey has been tremendous, Smith said.

“I’ve had some parents and school counselors that have said their kids have made a miraculous turnaround in school as far as paying attention and being a better friend, and they’ve been opening up more with their parents,” Smith said.

Ginger decided to work as a counselor at Camp Odyssey while Blaine attended. She worked with girls who had lost parents, siblings and grandparents. She realized most of the children struggled like Blaine, unable to express their feelings.

“I think it was really good because the children can release how they’re feeling about the deaths of their family members,” she said. “One little girl I worked with lost her brother. Her mother told me she hadn’t cried or anything the whole time, but that little girl broke down and cried at camp. She said she didn’t want to make her mom sad, so she didn’t feel like she could do that at home.”

Ginger said she noticed a change in Blaine after he learned that it was OK to talk about his feelings at home.

“I thought he opened up even more with us after the camp,” she said.

Camp Odyssey is a free weekend camp, but it is packed with activities. Not only do campers receive counseling and learn how to express their grief in positive ways, but they also get to participate in recreational activities like canoeing, fishing and zip lining, said Kim Smith, Camp Odyssey’s director.

Blaine said he made a lot of friends who understood his situation, and his favorite part of the weekend was canoeing and zip lining.

“It’s a good place to go,” Blaine said. “They taught me to don’t be afraid to talk to your parents about what happened and not to be shy about it.”

Camp Odyssey is still accepting campers for this year’s camp, which is Sept. 8 and 9 at Camp Baldwin in Elberta. To register a child or for more information about the camp, call Kim Smith at 251-621-2500.