OUR MISSION: To foster emotional healing among children grieving a loss from a life-altering crisis

RAINBOWS OFFERS CHILDREN THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS:

• Awareness of feelings - naming, acknowledging, expressing, and managing them
• Prevention of destructive behaviors, e.g., chemical abuse, unwanted pregnancies
• Management of anger while learning appropriate coping mechanisms
• Encourages positive behavior
• Unconditional acceptance in a group
• Develop positive goals for themselves
• Positive direction during their journey toward reconciling their loss
• Confidential expression of grief
• A caring adult facilitator to attentively listen and guide children to a healthy resolution of a difficult family transition
• Increased self esteem
• Better communication in peer and family relationships
• Opportunity to meet new friends who have shared experiences
• Emotional healing

BOTH CHILDERN AND PARENTS WERE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THE HELPFULNESS OF THE RAINBOWS PROGRAM

Parents' ratings on the helpful ness of Rainbows:

• Solving Daily Problems ---70.0%
• Attitude -----------------------73.8%
• Communication --------------83.4%
• Behavior ----------------------70.7%
• Self-Esteem ------------------73.9%
• Talking about feelings -----78.0%
• Not blaming themselves ---90.0%
• Understanding divorce -----87.5%
• Accepting divorce -----------80.0%

Children's satisfaction with Rainbows:

• 80% say, "I've learned new ways to solve problems."
• 77% say, "Being in Rainbows helped me to better understand my feelings."
• 61% say, "I feel less alone than I did before Rainbows."
• 81% say, "My Rainbows group was a safe place to talk about my feelings."
• 98% say, "I would recommend Rainbows to other children."
• 87% say, "I would participate in Rainbows again."

** Evaluation conducted by Laurie Kramer and Gary Laumann, Dept. of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001)