Grief and Loss

Samaritans Hope works with families and friends who have experienced the loss of someone to suicide. They offer various services including SafePlace, which is an open group of caring people who have experienced the loss of a loved one to suicide.
SafePlace is not a professional therapy group; rather it is peer support. The facilitator is a trained Samaritan Befriender who has lost a loved one to suicide. Groups are currently available in Medford, Boston, South Boston, Quincy, Framingham and Worcester. Their website outlines specific times of the various meetings. They also offer Survivor to Survivor support in which trained volunteers, who have lost a loved one to suicide are available to to visit someone individually. Information is available about this service from the Director of Grief Support Services through their helpline or website as well. Finally, they offer a yearly Safeplace Memorial service for suicide survivors to honor those they have lost, which is typically held in January.

BRIK (Building Resilience in Kids) is a non-profit that runs programs in schools combining arts, education, and social skills.

The mission of The Children's Room is to provide a safe and caring place where grieving children, teens, and families can receive peer support and the guidance of trained volunteers. The Children's Room enables these families to express their grief and to adapt to the many changes that accompany the death. We serve children from ages three to eighteen. Children meet with other children their age (such as teen to teen) with similar losses and meet in small groups to encourage sharing and strong connections. While the children are playing, talking and doing crafts together, the adults are meeting on their own with other parents/guardians who have experienced a loss.
Services are provided free of charge, although we invite families to make a voluntary donation. The Children's Room also has a Framingham location at 39 Edwards Street.

Comfort Zone Camp is a nonprofit bereavement camp that transforms the lives of children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. The free camps include confidence building programs and age-based support groups that break the emotional isolation grief often brings. Comfort Zone Camps are offered to children 7-17, and are held year-round in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia.

The Experience Journals are designed to promote the healthy coping of children and their families who must contend with significant physical and emotional illnesses. The Experience Journals are collections of stories, pictures, and personal experiences from families about what it has been like to live with their children's illnesses. They represent the "collective wisdom" of these children and their parents as well as their health care providers.

We are a nonprofit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts whose mission is to preserve the legacy of our parents and grandparents, who were Holocaust Survivors, through outreach, education, social events and interaction with Survivors and their descendants.

The Good Grief Program provides workshops throughout the state for schools, parents and community groups, crisis intervention and development of a crisis protocol to help children develop coping skills around death, dying and loss.
The CIRCLE, a project of The Good Grief Program, provides a comprehensive family bereavement support program after the death of a loved one. The CIRCLE has programs in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hingham and a CIRCLE for families who had a loved one die on Sept. 11th.

Comfort Zone Camp, Inc. developed HelloGrief.org to start a discussion about the impact of loss, and how to help grieving persons cope; as well as build a community of support for those living with grief.

Jeff's Place offers bimonthly open-ended peer support groups for children ages 3-19 and their caregivers who are coping with the death of a loved one. The groups are free, dinner is included and are held either in Framingham or Wayland. In addition, Jeff's Place posts articles and resources on their website for children, adolescents and adults around grief and loss.

The Needham Health Department offers a range of mental health services for citizens of the town. Public Health Nurses provide confidential counseling and referrals to all ages. Short-term home-based services for at-risk teenagers and their families are provided through Riverside Community Care's Alternative Youth Services program. The program includes family counseling, advocacy, information, and referral. Call the Health Department for more information on these free services. The town's Substance Abuse Prevention and Education program provides informational programs, educational resources, and confidential substance abuse support services for Needham youth, adults, and seniors. Contact Carol Read at the Health Department to find out more about inpatient and outpatient treatment, individual and group counseling, and peer support resources regarding substance abuse, addiction and chemical dependency.

This is a town-funded department which provides professional and confidential mental health services to youth and their families in Needham. It offers support, information, and direction on issues such as peer relationships, stress, grief and loss, substance use, suicide, and other concerns. Most services are free of charge. The department collaborates regularly with civic and community organizations on a variety of projects.

Second Generation Connections and Resources provides a setting for discussion and learning, as well as a location to seek helpful resources. Second Generation Connections and Resources provides an ongoing supportive/educational discussion group for children of Holocaust survivors. Discussion group topics include: sharing, learning and understanding about your family's or relative's experiences, understanding the impact of family experiences on yourself, your personal experiences and your life, learning from historical perspectives, informing and teaching the next generation, dealing with any concerns or needs you may have, and seeking helpful resources and information.

The Samaritans set out as a small group of volunteers aiming to reduce the incidence of suicide in the Merrimack Valley by providing “befriending†to individuals who were lonely, depressed and contemplating suicide or self-injury. In 2004, the Samaritans of Merrimack Valley joined Family Service, Inc., which now provides financial and administrative support to the Samaritans. Suicide prevention remains the primary goal of the Samaritans.The Samaritans of Merrimack Valley is also dedicated to supporting individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide. The Samaritans offers individual and group support to survivors to facilitate a healthy grieving process and help individuals come to terms with their loss. Samaritans staff and volunteers provide educational support for schools, businesses, youth and senior centers, civic organizations, faith-based institutions, and volunteer groups. Samaritans provides information to help the audience identify individuals who may be at risk, to educate them so that they can talk with a person at-risk, and to provide resources for those at risk. The Samaritans provide a crisis helpline, survivor services, outreach & education among other services.

Bereaved Parents of the USA (BP/USA) is dedicated to offering support, understanding, encouragement and hope to bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents. It provides aid and support for those who are suffering the loss of a child, brother, sister or grandchild. BP/USA educates families about the grief process in all its complexities pertaining to the death of a child at any age and from any cause. The organization provides telephone numbers and email addresses of other bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents who are able to offer support to other more newly bereaved families. Chapters across the country hold monthly chapter meetings where sharing, support and encouragement can be provided. BP/USA produces a National Newsletter and individual chapter newsletters to aid with grief work. It also holds an Annual Gathering where helpful speakers, workshops, sharing sessions and much more will be provided. The BP/USA websites offers articles and other resources on family bereavement.

E-couch is a self-help interactive program with modules for depression, generalised anxiety & worry, social anxiety, relationship breakdown, and loss & grief.
It provides evidence-based information and teaches strategies drawn from cognitive, behavioural and interpersonal therapies as well as relaxation and physical activity.

In 1990, with the help of a significant gift from Hospice Care, Inc., the Foundation expanded its scope to a national level in order to provide leadership in the entire spectrum of end-of-life issues. The Foundation board is a distinguished group of health policy experts which guide the Foundation as it explores efforts to: become a center of neutral, creative thinking on end-of-life issues for policy makers and opinion molders, raise the visibility and credibility of hospice in general, and become an advocate for those principles of hospice which may enhance the medical system in general.

The National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) provides a network for nationwide communication between hundreds of children's bereavement support professionals and volunteers who want to share ideas, information and resources with each other to better support the families they serve in their own communities. Through this network, the NAGC offers online education, hosts an annual symposium on children's grief, maintains a national data base of children's bereavement support programs and promotes national awareness to enhance public sensitivity to the issues impacting grieving children and teens.

The Dougy Center provides a safe place for children, teens, young adults and their families who are grieving a death to share their experiences. We do this through peer support groups, education, and training.