2026 Southeast Regional Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp

The TAPS Southeast Regional Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp bring the healing power of TAPS to the southeast region of the United States to make TAPS' care accessible for families concentrated in that region. This gathering extend the reach of our national program by providing the same high-quality, peer-based care in a more intimate, community-centered setting.

Location: Jacksonville, FL
Dates: September 11 - 13, 2026

Each year, this regional seminar serves approximately 600 survivors of military loss, offering a meaningful weekend of connection, peer support, and practical tools for navigating life after loss. Through small-group mentorship, grief and experiential workshops, and evidence-informed programming, survivors build skills that help them manage grief, strengthen resilience, and rediscover hope.

Because these seminars are smaller and closer to where families live, they often feel especially personal. Survivors form deeper bonds, share openly, and connect with others in their own geographic area, and these relationships continue long after the weekend ends. For many, this is the first time they are surrounded by people who truly understand their experience.

Like the National Seminar, this regional seminar serves as an entry point into lifelong TAPS care, reducing isolation and strengthening stability at one of the most vulnerable times a military family will ever face.

In just one weekend, families gain what might otherwise take years to find:
- a supportive community that “gets it,”
- identification of a core group of local support,
- coping strategies they can use immediately,
- trusted peer mentors who walk beside them, and
- a clear roadmap forward.

That early connection is transformative. Research, along with our own outcomes, shows that timely peer support and skills-based grief care lead to stronger long-term emotional health, improved stability, and healthier outcomes for both adults and children.

Children participate in Good Grief Camp, where they are paired one-on-one with trained military mentors and engage in age-appropriate activities that help them process loss, build confidence, and remember their loved one with pride and connection.

For donors, the impact is both tangible and local. Sponsoring a TAPS Regional Seminar and Good Grief Camp helps families stabilize sooner, reduces the risk of prolonged grief and isolation, and equips survivors with tools that strengthen their well-being for years to come, all while making care accessible within their own communities. It is an investment not just in a weekend of support, but in a lifetime of healing, connection, and resilience.

Simply put: this is where hope begins for military families.