The minute Maria Georgopoulos walked into the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, she knew it would be the right place for Roula’s Kids, the free grief groups she has offered to Hudson Valley-area children and their families since March 2023.
“I remember Pastor Rob [Sweeney] telling me, ‘We can’t teach these kids how to feel things, but you can,’” she says, recalling the conversation she had with him when she proposed holding grief counseling sessions in the space. “The church is so welcoming of everyone. That made it very easy for me to be there.”
A licensed mental health counselor and fellow in thanatology (the scientific study of death and loss), whose over 25-year career has focused on grief, loss, and trauma, Georgopoulos named her non-profit to honor the memory of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when Georgopoulos was 14 years old. She died six years later.
“I didn’t have a lot of resources to help me after my mom died,” says Georgopoulos, now 49. “That’s why I feel it’s important that the families I work with know this part of my story.”
Creative Expression

When Georgopoulos first envisioned the formation of these therapeutic grief groups, she was surprised that there weren’t other offerings like it in the area. “The fact that there were no other services like this when I was first getting going was a little disheartening for me,” she says. “Perhaps part of it is related to the pandemic and a lack of clinicians available and knowledgeable about grief, and a lack of understanding about what children need when they are grieving.”
A counseling session with a parent prompted her to get the programs off the ground. “A woman found me via word of mouth and said, ‘my child just died in the middle of the night—you have to help me,’” she explains. “I wanted this mother and her surviving children to have a place to grieve.”
Today, Roula’s Kids features once-a-week after-school sessions, which are divided by the child’s age; there’s a caregiver’s group, too. The sessions—limited to 14 children each—begin with a feelings check-in, followed by an art or music activity before gathering again to talk some more.
Ultimately, Georgopoulos hopes to dispel the myth that children should be protected from grief. “Kids need to be a part of things instead of thinking that they can’t have their own grief process,” she says. “My goal has always been to teach children that it’s okay to have their grief process and then to try to help them understand their grief.”
As for Georgopoulos, finding solace personally comes from another activity at the Old Dutch Church: She’s a long-time member of the Drumsong Orchestra of the Hudson Valley, a multi-cultural women’s drum and percussion performance ensemble. “This fits into my work, as I incorporate music into all of the groups,” she says. “But what’s special is that this is a place where I can release all of my emotions and anything I’m holding onto from other people’s pain.”

For more information, visit roulaskids.org. Those looking to sign up for free group sessions can contact Georgopoulos through the organization’s website.
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