Conversations around death, grief, addiction, suicide and mental health are always difficult ones, especially when it involves children or teens who may have lots of questions that don’t lend themselves to easy answers.
That’s why the staff at Hartford Public Library have put together this resource guide that includes books, videos, websites, local organizations and more that seek to help young people understand loss, drug addiction and other difficult topics. We hope these links will be of use to families in our community. Books that are hyperlinked are available for checkout in our collection.
Support and Resources for Children
Books for Young Children
Big Cat Little Cat by Elisha Cooper
The End of Something Wonderful by Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic
Where Do They Go? By Julia Alvarez
I Remember Miss Perry by Pat Brisson
I Miss You: A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas
The Boy and the Gorilla by Jackie Azúa Kramer
The Memory Box: A Book About Grief by Joanna Rowland
The Dandelion’s Tale by Kevin Sheehan
The Memory Tree by Britta Teckentrup
Bird (drug addition/loss) by Zetta Elliot
When My Daddy Died I … by K. J. Reider
I Lost Something Very Special by Husna Rahman
A Kids Book about Grief by Taryn Schuelke
A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret Holmes
A Kids Book about Trauma by Megan Bartlett
A Kids Book About Suicide by Angela N. Frazier
A Kids Book about Depression by Kileah McIlvain
A Kids Book about Addiction by Nicole Lendo
Books for children ages 8-12
Sunny Side Up by Jennifer Holm
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas
Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White
The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller
Nest by Esther Ehrlich
The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Video series for Children about Parental Addiction:
Sesame Street in Communities: Parental Addiction – Meet Salia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGgW-f0RyfE
Lending a Hand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pfuEqGhREA&list=PLQJaFRtaBs0rlluGMF5J4bqWgEMFMxF0L&index=1
Karli and Salia Breathe Deep
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2vN3zf-GjA&list=PLQJaFRtaBs0rlluGMF5J4bqWgEMFMxF0L&index=10
It’s Not Your Fault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjZ8ngKDHI&list=PLQJaFRtaBs0rlluGMF5J4bqWgEMFMxF0L&index=4
Helping Children Cope with Death
Helping Kids Grieve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvMM6Fu5OgI&t=64s
Helping Children Cope with Grief
https://library.wheelerclinic.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8451&cn=58
The Healing Library
https://www.thehealinglibraryus.com/
National Alliance for Children’s Grief
Support & Resources for Teens
Local resource: Wheeler Clinic Youth Mobile Crisis Intervention Service – Think of it as Library On Wheels but for youth mental health services. They’ll bring the van anywhere in Connecticut for youth mental health counseling and crisis intervention.
Digital Resource: Wheeler Clinic Resource Library topic guides
Teens in Crisis
1-800-273-TALK (8255) – suicide hotline
13reasonswhy.info – self harm and suicide
Crisis Text Line https://www.crisistextline.org/ Text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the United States, anytime to connect with a crisis counselor. Also available through WhatsApp and FB messenger.
National Sexual Assault Hotline https://www.rainn.org/ 24/7 Call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or chat
Bethe1to.com – suicide
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/?_ga=2.55438818.892972002.1642803349-1524369767.1642803349
The Trevor Project – chat, call, text crisis support for LBGTQIA + youth https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/
“Say Something” Anonymous Call Reporting System for Students – 844-572-9669 or 844-5-SAYNOW
The Say Something Anonymous Reporting System is available 24/7 to allow you to submit secure, anonymous safety concerns to help someone who may hurt themselves or others.
Turning Point https://turningpointct.org/ – mental health support
Drugs
Talking to Teens about Fentanyl
Teen Addiction Services
Hartford Healthcare – Rushford Teen Addiction Services
https://rushford.org/teen-services
Join Rise Be: Warmline
Teen Substance Use Resource Guide
Wheeler Clinic CT Clearinghouse
https://www.ctclearinghouse.org/
Opioid Use Disorder – Opioid Treatment in CT
https://portal.ct.gov/DMHAS/Programs-and-Services/Opioid-Treatment/Prevention-and-Treatment
Youth Recovery CT – addiction recovery peer support
https://www.youthrecoveryct.org/
Opioid Treatment Facility Locator
https://www.ctclearinghouse.org/find-help/treatment-facility-locator/
CT Network of Care: Grief Support
https://connecticut.networkofcare.org/mh/library/learning-center.aspx?lc=grief
Teen Books
A Kid’s Book About Death by Taryn Schuelke
Death Is Stupid (Ordinary Terrible Things) by Anastasia Higginbotham
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Paper Heart by Cat Patrick
Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year by Demi Lovato
Hey Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka
Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opioid Epidemic by Sam Quinones
(Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health by Kelly Jensen
High: Everything You Want to Know About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction by David and Nic Sheff
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
What I Leave Behind by Alison McGhee
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Early Departures by Justin Reynolds
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Family Support & Education
Substance Use & Addiction
Sesame Street in Communities webinar:
How Parental Addiction Affects Young Children
Parental Addiction: Healing Families Together
Parental Addiction: Responding with Care
Parental Addiction: Supporting Families in Recovery
Learn to Cope
Learn to Cope: Grief resources
https://learn2cope.org/grief-resources/
Narcan training video
https://learn2cope.org/narcan-training-video/
Live Out Loud
https://liveloud.org/families/assets/doc/ct-connection-brochure.pdf
Drug Free CT
Substance Use Disorder Resources for CT Residents
https://uwc.211ct.org/substance-abuse-resources-and-information-for-connecticut-residents/
Teen Alcohol and Drug Use
https://connecticut.networkofcare.org/mh/library/article.aspx?hwid=tp17749
Death
CT Network of Care: Grief Support
https://connecticut.networkofcare.org/mh/library/learning-center.aspx?lc=grief
CT Children’s Hospital: Helping Your Child Deal with Death
https://www.connecticutchildrens.org/health-library/en/parents/death/
CT Children’s Hospital: Talking to Kids about Grief
https://www.hartfordschools.org/talking-to-kids-about-grief-from-connecticut-childrens/
National Alliance for Children’s Grief: Programs in CT
https://childrengrieve.org/find-support/9-find-support/13-programs-in-connecticut
Talking to Children about Death
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/Digest/2018-19/childdeath.pdf
Resources to Recover: A Family Website – The Den: For Grieving Kids
https://www.rtor.org/directory/family-centers-the-den-for-grieving-kids/
Mary’s Place: A Center for Grieving Children and Families
Resources for HPS Families: Supporting Your Child Through Grief and Loss
Greenhouse Studios at the University of Connecticut, in partnership with several leading libraries and archives, including Hartford Public Library, has been awarded a grant in the amount of $805,000 over two years from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will support the continued development and outreach of Sourcery, a mobile application that streamlines the scanning of remote of archival materials, provides better connections between researchers and archivists, and offers new and more equitable pathways for archival research.
Sourcery is an open-source web application that expands access to non-digitized archival sources. The app, developed by Greenhouse Studios and supported by the non-profit Corporation for Digital Scholarship (CDS), is accessible on any device connected to the Internet. Sourcery provides archivists with a streamlined reference scanning workflow, payment processing services, and analytics on document requests. It provides researchers with a single interface for placing document requests across multiple remote repositories–a practice that has taken on new urgency during this time of limited in-person access to collections. At present, researchers can request a document from three of four partner repositories: Hartford Public Library, Northeastern University Library and the University of Connecticut Archives & Special Collections. The fourth partner repository, Folger Shakespeare Library, will be available for requests upon its completion of a full renovation in 2023. During the grant period, the team at Greenhouse Studios will extend Sourcery’s reach to archives around the world.
“In Hartford Public Library’s Hartford History Center, we work to democratize the research process. We are excited to be included in the Sourcery project, as one of four institutions in the country chosen and the only public library to be participating,” said Brenda Miller, Hartford Public Library executive director of culture and communications and manager of the Hartford History Center. “We look forward to exploring how this dynamic collaboration will support our reference capability and the public we serve.”
Building on work done during the planning grant and in response both to feedback from archivists and researchers and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the additional funding will enable the Sourcery team to facilitate widespread institutional adoption; work with partners in libraries and archives to support the development of the application’s feature set and user experience; implement Sourcery in a way that recognizes ethical and labor issues in the archives profession; and build a robust user base among the research community. As a part of this effort, Northeastern University Library will host an in-person design charette for institutional stakeholders in the Spring of 2022, during which the team will solicit feedback and advice from colleagues in the library and archives community. In addition, the grant will enable interoperability of Sourcery with other CDS-supported projects, including Zotero, Omeka, and Tropy.
Archives interested in using Sourcery to improve their reference scanning workflows and researchers interested in trying out the app can sign up or learn more at sourceryapp.org/join-us.
Hartford Public Library has received a near-$25,000 grant to launch a program to provide professional development opportunities for immigrant women entrepreneurs in Hartford. See the news release below from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for more information.
Latino Endowment Fund at the Hartford Foundation Approves Grants to Support Latino Entrepreneurship and Social Justice
Members of the Latino Endowment Fund (LEF) at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving have approved grants to the Hartford Public Library and Know Thy Neighbor totaling nearly $50,000. These grants support initiatives providing professional development and entrepreneurship for Latino immigrant women, social justice and Latino resident engagement.
“Hartford Public Library’s Mujeres Emprendedoras is a critical program to support the growth of female entrepreneurs in the heart of Hartford. Know Thy Neighbor is a growing program that brings hope, partnership and community when we need it most,” said LEF Steering Committee Chair Delpha DiGiacomo. “The strength of the Latino Endowment Fund is in supporting programs that positively impact and bring progress to our communities. I am so excited to see how these two programs continue to impact our community with the support of LEF.”
Hartford Public Library’s (HPL) Mujeres Emprendedoras (Entrepreneurial Women) program has received a $24,960 grant to provide professional development for immigrant women entrepreneurs to create and showcase their works of cultural significance. Located at HPL’s Park Street Branch. The project will offer Spanish language workforce development support by supplying a space, childcare, and Spanish-language financial education to further their entrepreneurial goals. Project objectives include developing small business incubation by removing barriers that prevent immigrant women from making their entrepreneurial efforts profitable, primarily due to a lack of resources and capital.
“The Hartford Public Library is excited to have been selected to receive the grant from the Hartford Foundation’s Latino Endowment Fund and start project Mujeres Emprendedoras (Entrepreneurial Women),” said Hartford Public Library Customer Experience Officer Leticia Cotto. “This grant will support and enhance work that is inherent to the Hartford Public Library’s mission around economic and workforce development, community collaboration and engagement and the creation of avenues for social and economic mobility. These resources will help Hartford Public Library and local artists in the Arte Popular Collective strengthen and continue the momentum of community revitalization in our new location; the Park Street Library @ the Lyric.”
Know Thy Neighbor’s (KTN) Advancing Racial and Social Justice in Hartford’s Latino Community program is an effort to bring together Hartford residents (Latinos and others) with police and other City agencies to build relationships working collectively to create community-driven change. KTN will hold bi-weekly meetings in Clay Arsenal, Frog Hollow, and a new neighborhood with a large Latino population. Meetings will initially be held online but will resume in person as soon when it is safe to do so. KTN will recruit and train new facilitators, use resident liaisons to grow KTN leaders, and implement actions resulting from idea generated through dialogue. A portion of the grant will be used for KTN to become a 501c3 and develop a new website.
“We at Know Thy Neighbor are so excited and grateful to have been chosen as a recipient of a grant from the Hartford Foundation’s Latino Endowment Fund,” said Know Thy Neighbor’s Executive Director Yanira Jeter. “This will be a wonderful opportunity to bring together Hartford’s Latino community and others to build relationships and take collective action, resulting in positive, community-driven change. The grant will enable Know Thy Neighbor to contribute to changing the culture in Hartford and advancing racial and social justice.
“I am so proud of the fact that the Latino Endowment Fund is supporting these organizations that directly impact the Latino community,” said LEF Steering Committee Vice-Chair Barbara Fernandez. “We look forward to working with them on their innovative programs to improve the life and economic prosperity of all Latinos in our region”
The Latino Endowment Fund was founded in 2003 by Latino leaders in Greater Hartford to increase philanthropy in their community and to strengthen nonprofits working to improve the quality of life for Latino residents. Members examine issues affecting the Latino community and recommend grants from the fund to address those issues.
For more information, contact Susan Dana at 860-548-1888 or sdana@hfpg.org or go to www.hfpg.org/latino.
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns. Through partnerships, the Foundation seeks to strengthen communities in Greater Hartford by putting philanthropy in action to dismantle structural racism and achieve equity in social and economic mobility. Made possible by the gifts of generous individuals, families and organizations, the Foundation has awarded grants of more than $849 million since its founding in 1925. For more information, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.
ArtWalk artist Michelle Thomas of Hartford.
By Tricia Haggerty Wenz
Hartford artist Michelle Thomas will be the second featured artist of ArtWalk’s 2021-22 season and her exhibition, The Adornment Series: Images of Empowerment, opens Friday, Jan. 7, with a reception from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Below is an interview with Thomas ahead of the show where she discusses her background and how she approaches her art.
Tell me about your path to becoming an artist.
I’ve been an artist my entire life. I recall in kindergarten completing my work as fast as I could to have free time where I would go directly to the easel in the classroom. I can still see the newsprint paper and smell the red and purple tempera paint. From then on I would make space to create wherever I lived. At 16 with my very first paycheck, I purchased my first drawing table.
In the early days of your artistic journey, you joined the military.
You know, I can’t even recall how I came to the decision to join the military, but I can recall my decision to become a medic. The philosophy of that field resonated with me. When you are in battle and someone is injured, it is your duty to care for them, whether or not they are perceived to be the enemy. You take care of everyone; it is the best of humanity. After 13 years as a medic, I began working in public affairs which brought me back to my art. I was trained in graphic arts, photography and videography. All set the stage for my future career. I was able to see the world and retired after 21 years.
At the end of 2010 you retired and you embarked on an extraordinary journey.
The routines and regiment of military life were so ingrained in me I needed to somehow break free and find my creative voice once again. I needed to free my spirit and embrace fully my art once again. So, I began a year of silence. For all of 2011 I did not speak a word.
Wow.
During that year I was a mom of two young children and worked as an art teacher at a Montessori school. It was a year of self-discovery and understanding and connecting with humanity on such a deeper level. Language can be such a barrier to connecting with others, by removing speaking I was able to really see the people I was interacting with — to really focus solely on them. I developed a heightened sense of picking up body language and visual cues.
It was like a cleansing for me. At the end of the year, I was able to get back to the freedom of being. It was a pivotal, life-changing experience for me.
Tell me about this exhibition: The Adornment Series: Images of Empowerment
This is the fourth and final part of a series I have been working on titled Visually Re-Writing Re-Written History and the series is about my journey as a Black woman. Black identity has been torn apart and ripped to shreds. This series is about reclaiming that identity through my art.
Tell me more.
I spent so much time reading and trying to understand how slavery has affected Black Americans for centuries. I am struggling to understand how people can oppress others.
I found out recently through my dad that I am Nigerian. I thought about how much slavery and oppression took away from me and all of Black Americans. This final part of my series is all about reclaiming and celebrating who we are.
The faces in this work are captivating.
Each face informed the direction of the art. I started with a vision but as I got deeper into the work, I found the art led me in the direction it needed to go in. Although it is a series, I treated each piece as an individual and they became who they were destined to be.
What do you hope people take away from this exhibit?
I hope that everyone, and particularly Black women, walk away knowing that they are worthy, that their history matters, that they are enough. I hope they can have the strength to share their story, to rewrite their history. We all have that tape in our head of negative thoughts and stories. Change that and choose what you feed your soul with. I know now that I am grand, I am beautiful, and I can be anything I want to be. And I want to share that message with others.
How has creating this work changed you?
It many ways it has completed an important journey for me. Through rewriting my history, I have reclaimed my Nigerian roots. For my entire life butterflies have been an important symbol for me. The butterfly is what I use in my art logo. I recently discovered that Nigeria has the largest number of species of butterflies. Discovering this connection to my roots has been so beautiful and empowering to me.