Kai's Journey - A book series about grief, strength and love.

Educational Series Growing through your grief journey

Kai’s Journey is a film and book series that is dedicated to children and families who have experienced the death of a loved one. It’s about a little boy named Kai who, together with his mom, learns how to navigate a profound loss in their family. The series strives to provide guidance and support as they embark on this lifelong journey of learning to better understand, process, and communicate their grief.

Support for Grieving Families


Talking about the death of a family member can be difficult or even painful, especially when we engage with our family members for the first time. Such dialogue is important for everyone, adults and children, as open communication is the cornerstone of growth and healing for grieving families.

This free discussion guide offers tangible insights and tools to help promote productive conversations about grief through the challenging and important themes in the series.

Lost in the Middle

For Kai and his friends, grief and loss are lifelong journeys. The same goes for real children and their families - it doesn’t just end when the book ends. That’s why we’ve expanded the series with our newest book, Lost in the Middle, a graphic novel for middle schoolers.

You downloaded, we donated.

When we released the book series, we created a campaign to support our bereavement nonprofit partners. For every download of The Golden Sweater, The Girl with the Locket, and The Fishless Lake, we donated to these organizations to support their missions of serving children who experienced the death of a loved one, including a death due to COVID-19.  Thank you for helping us reach our donation goal of $350,000   Below are our partner organizations that received a donation through this campaign.   Although the download to donate campaign is over, the New York Life Foundation continues to be one of the largest corporate funders of childhood bereavement support.  Learn more about our support here.

 

Below is the list of the partners that received funding as part of our first donation goal.

Billy’s Place

Billy’s Place is a community in the West Valley of Phoenix that provides comfort and companionship to kids and families experiencing grief—no matter where they are on their journey.  Through support groups, special events, and a community of people who ‘get it,’  they help families rediscover moments of happiness without guilt. They nurture these moments as signs of hope for more promising days ahead.

Groups include family groups for kids who have lost a sibling, parent, or significant person in their lives, Young Adult Groups,  a kids-only kicking back night, and a Traumatic Loss group which is those who have lost a loved one due to suicide, drug overdose, or homicide.


Bo’s Place

For more than 30 years, Bo’s Place has served as the premier grief support center for children, teens, and adults in Houston, Texas. Bo’s Place was founded in 1990 as The Grief Center of Texas by two community members after their own grief experiences and realization of the unmet need for comprehensive grief support services for families in Houston. In 1995, The Grief Center of Texas became Bo’s Place, a bereavement center named in memory of Laurence “Bo” Bosworth Neuhaus, Jr., a Houstonian who died at the age of 12 after a 2 ½ year battle with liver cancer. Their program offerings include an Information & Referral Line, support groups, special programs (i.e., camps and retreats), and community education and training for professionals and others assisting the bereaved. Bo’s Place programs are available online and in person and are offered in English and Spanish. Bo’s Place provides these services at no cost to grieving families. All Bo’s Place grief support programs are evidence-based and are overseen by licensed mental health professionals with training in trauma-informed practices and expertise in bereavement-specific issues.


Children’s Bereavement Center

Children’s Bereavement Center (CBC) is a multicultural community organization that provides a year-round, free-of-charge peer support program for children (4+), teens, and adults who have experienced the death of a loved one. Services are offered at 10 locations throughout South Florida as well as online. CBC also provides customized training and consultation for professionals at schools, hospitals, hospices and community agencies in the developmental impact of a death experience, manifestations of grief, neurobiological effects of grief, standards of care, and factors relevant to working with bereft children, adults and families.


Comfort Zone Camp

Comfort Zone Camp is a nonprofit bereavement organization that transforms the lives of children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. Programs are free of charge and include confidence building activities and age-based support groups that break the emotional isolation grief often brings. Comfort Zone’s programs are offered to children ages 7-17, and their families for the family programs, plus they offer young adult programs for 18-25 year olds. Held year-round across the country, their primary locations are California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia (HQ).


eLuna

eLuna is a nonprofit organization that supports children and families impacted by grief or addiction. It is the creator of Camp Erin, the largest national bereavement program for youth grieving the death of a significant person in their lives, and offers continued care through the Eluna Resource Center which provides personalized phone and email support  as well as a comprehensive online library of high quality tools that help children and families impacted by grief, addiction and related complex challenges.


The Jewish Board

The Jewish Board offers an unmatched continuum of behavioral health, family support, early childhood, and youth programming to over 40,000 New York City residents each year. The Jewish Board’s Loss & Bereavement program has supported young people healing from trauma for more than 20 years. Their team provides therapeutic groups for children and caregivers that help to lower risks of negative long-term outcomes. By strengthening the ability of schools, families, and communities to support grieving and traumatized children, the Loss & Bereavement Program helps to create environments where children can begin to heal.


The National Alliance for Grieving Children

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the needs of children and teens who are grieving a death and provides education and resources for anyone who supports them. The NAGC is a nationwide network comprised of professionals, institutions, and volunteers who promote best practices, educational programming, and critical resources to facilitate the mental, emotional and physical health of grieving children and their families.  They are committed to ensuring that No Child Grieves Alone and all bereaved children, no matter where they live or their circumstances, should have the support and resources they need to adapt to a loss in their lives positively.


OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center

OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center is a non-profit organization in Los Angeles County that provides grief support services, education, resources, and hope. OUR HOUSE’s programs include grief support groups for children, teens, and adults in English and Spanish, grief camp weekends for children and teens, grief education for professionals, and short-term grief support at businesses and schools. All programs have transitioned online during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors

The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) is a national organization providing compassionate care for all those grieving a military loss. TAPS provides peer-based emotional support, grief and trauma resources, grief seminars for adults, Good Grief Camps for children, case work assistance, connections to community-based care, and a 24/7 resource and information helpline. Services are provided free of charge to surviving families and loved ones.

Parent and child hugging

More tools to help process grief

Over 175 years, New York Life has helped families in difficult times. We are proud to  offer resources for educators, families, communities, caregivers and children to help process their loss, build resiliency, and thrive. 

Additional questions?

You can contact the New York Life Foundation via email at NYLFoundation@NewYorkLife.com

*Each organization received up to $50, 000 based on the number of download or views.