Bridie Croucher always told her children that their father’s suicide was caused by mental illness, a kind of brain disease that impaired his judgment.

“It is nobody’s fault,” Croucher, 44, told NJ Spotlight News.

Croucher’s two children, now 10 and eight, lost their husband and father, Paolo, to suicide in 2016. On Friday, her kids will be among several dozen children, young adults and parents who will be attending a free three-day camp in Warren County for people who have lost a loved one to suicide.

The scheduled gathering in Johnsonburg, hosted by Comfort Zone Camp, comes amid a continuing youth mental health crisis heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and a nation facing an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. In 2021, 48,183 people died by suicide in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the same year, 10% of high school students surveyed nationally attempted suicide one or more times during the past year, according to a report released in February by the CDC.

This year, between 30% to 35% more people have registered for the suicide loss camp than attended last year, organizers said. Friday’s camp will also include a separate optional program for parents who have lost a loved one to suicide, with 25 signed up and more on a waitlist.

Love and grief

“It’s important for me that they grow up knowing that you can simultaneously continue to love and grieve the person lost and still experience joy and live a good life,” Croucher said, explaining her reasons for having her children attend. “Moments created at camps like Comfort Zone Camp really help reinforce this, as everybody else having fun with them and attending camp is in the same boat.”

Credit: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Comfort Zone Camp

Comfort Zone Camp is a nonprofit bereavement organization that aims to empower grieving children who have lost a parent, sibling or primary caregiver to realize their capacity to heal, grow and lead fulfilling lives. The camps are held year-round across the country with primary locations in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia. In addition to the suicide loss camps, the nonprofit hosts camps for children who have lost a loved one to an overdose and one for losses to COVID-19.

The suicide loss camp is held in partnership with A Little Hope Foundation, a national nonprofit foundation for grieving children, teens and families founded in early 2002 as a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The first Comfort Zone camps were held in 1999 for people who lost loved ones for a variety of reasons; they began focusing on suicide loss in 2015 in partnership with A Little Hope Foundation, according to Lynne Hughes, the founder and chief executive officer of Comfort Zone Camp.

Free to share — or not

The children aren’t forced to share anything they don’t want to, but the camp creates a supportive environment that allows the kids to share what they want, when they want, said Croucher, who lives with her family in Leonardtown, Maryland. Without having to explain themselves, there is comfort in knowing that other people attending camp have been through the same thing and just “get it,” she said.

Credit: Comfort Zone Camp

“Our main goal always is to make sure that these children know that they’re not alone,” said Sandy Bruno, a licensed clinical social worker and the youth and family coordinator for Comfort Zone Camp. Many times, children will go to school and they don’t know anybody who’s lost a parent, a sibling or a guardian, Bruno said. “These children are really looking to connect with peers who have experienced that situation and give them a sense of community,” she said.

Some of the activities available for children and young adults during the upcoming suicide loss camp include arts and crafts, a bonfire and support groups called “healing circles” where kids can connect with their peers.

Credit: Comfort Zone Camp

Suicide and suicide attempts continue to be major public health issues impacting young people across the country, especially adolescents in certain demographic groups. In 2021, female high school students were more likely than male students to attempt suicide, according to the CDC. Additionally, Black high school students were more likely than Asian, Hispanic and white high school students to attempt suicide during the same year. LGBQ+ high school students and students who had any same-sex partners were also more likely than their peers to attempt suicide in 2021, according to the CDC.

There has also been an “exponential” increase in demand for child and adolescent therapy appointments in the past six months at Weill Cornell Medicine, according to Dr. Renae Beaumont, a child and adolescent psychologist at Weill Cornell and New York-Presbyterian in Manhattan.

“We are struggling to keep up with demand, and these are kids and teenagers in crisis who desperately need support and services,” Beaumont said.

Giving campers a safe space

But stigma surrounding mental health really gets in the way of people being able to access care and tell their story in safe ways and build connection, said Kalisha Smith, a licensed clinical social worker and a clinical consultant for The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide.

“What I love about this camp is it gives a safe and courageous space for those who have survived loss so that they can connect (and) so that they can heal,” Smith said. “And so ultimately our hope is it reduces their own risk for suicide,” she said.

Credit: Comfort Zone Camp

Suicide is also having a major impact on people beyond high school-aged students. Suicide rates increased significantly from 2020 to 2021 for non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white women, according to an April 2023 report from the CDC. Additionally, from 2020 to 2021, suicide rates increased by 17% for Native American or Alaskan Native men, by 11% for Black men and by 3% for white men, according to the April 2023 report from the CDC.

“I really think suicide prevention is an all of us concern,” Smith said.

As for Croucher, the camp is not a “sad space” but rather a “fun reprieve” from the everyday stresses of life for her kids.

“Probably the biggest way in which camp will help my family is to reinforce those messages — suicide is caused by a medical condition, it is nobody’s fault and they have nothing to be ashamed of,” Croucher said. “On the flip side, they have a lot to be proud of, given how far they have come in spite of the tough things they’ve had to deal with — and how it has helped develop further empathy and compassion for others,” she said.

If you or a loved one are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.  

For more information on Comfort Zone Camp, visit comfortzonecamp.org.