Grief Experts Talk Tragedy and Offer Tips to those in Need

    DECEMBER 17, 2012- Grief can weigh heavily on the heart, and although the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened in Newtown, Connecticut, experts say we can still feel the effects right here in Erie.

    Twenty elementary school children along with six women who worked in Sandy Hook Elementary will be buried in Newtown, Connecticut this coming week.

    Local grief experts say it's inevitable to relate to both the victims and their family members... especially if we've encountered similar trauma...

"My heart sank... all I could think was parents and what they're going through and how the world stopped at that moment.... Because I remember when I was taken with Maggie passing," says Renea Kovski.

    Renea Kovski experienced grief first hand.  She relates to the tragedy as her 2-year- old daughter Maggie drowned on May 30, 2007.....

"It's been 5 1/2 years and we still are trying to find our way through this difficult time of the year... especially this time of the year. That's going to be hard on parents because holidays are hard enough," says Kovski.

    Kovski says she went through a whirlwind of emotions and the grieving process affects everyone...

"Need to be as gentle with themselves and give themselves permission to grieve and they need to grieve. Don't let other people tell how to grieve."

    The Highmark Caring Place in Erie assists both family and children in the grieving process.

"We're feeling it from Erie and kids feeling it right in the room and in this school... it has to be very overwhelming for them," says Nina Ferraro of Highmark Caring Place.

    Nina Ferraro of Highmark Caring Place explains that parents and children grieve differently and we need to remember that...

"It's very important for children to talk about what they're feeling and for adults to listen to what they're saying... as well as validate the feeling they hear under the words," says Ferraro.

    Highmark Caring Place will be honoring those 20 innocent lives taken in that tragedy...

    Holding a candle light vigil.

    That vigil will also pay respect to a lot of the children who come to Highmark Caring Place who have lost loved ones over the years...

    This ceremony is not open to the public.