When Families Grieve on WXXI-TV

Pictured: Katie Couric (center), Jessie (left) and Elmo (right)

Credit: Philippe Cheng © 2009 Sesame Workshop

Katie Couric and the Sesame Street Muppets help families cope with death, presenting strategies that are child-appropriate and useful for the whole family.

Katie Couric and the Sesame Street Muppets host When Families Grieve, airing Wednesday, April 14 at 8 p.m. on WXXI- TV( DT 21.1/ cable 1011 and 11). The program shares families’ personal stories about coping with the death of a parent and presents strategies that have helped these families move forward.

When Families Grieve harnesses the unique approach that program producer Sesame Workshop takes in addressing children’s needs: using the Sesame Street Muppets to aid the communication between adults and children with language and strategies that are child-appropriate and useful for the whole family.

The program is a continuation of Sesame Workshop’s award-winning Talk, Listen, Connect (TLC) initiative, first launched in July 2006, to provide resources and emotional support to military families with young children facing the challenging transitions in their lives, such as deployments and the change in a parent who returns home with a combat-related injury. When Families Grieve also airs in conjunction with the Month of the Military Child and the Month of the Young Child.

This program is offered with Descriptive Video (DVi), which provides concise descriptions of the sets, scenery, costumes, action, and other important visual elements between the dialogue of the program.

More information can be found here  When Families Grieve,