General Information
Fees:
Free
Service Delivery Format:
- In Person:
- Virtual and in-person appointments available
- Groups are offered in person at this time
Eligibility:
Groups: To participate in group programming, children/youth must be aware of the cause of death prior to starting the group. Group facilitators may be available to support with a disclosure conversation prior to group depending on availability and the amount of time before group begins. Please let us know if this is something you’d like support with.
Additionally, children/youth must be available to attend every group session, as registration closes after the first session of each group.
Family Relationship: Grief related to the death or dying of a parent, sibling, or in-home custodial caregiver.
Age: Children, youth, and families ages 0 – 21 (with limited spots available up to age 29).
Geographic Catchment: The city of Toronto (Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, and North York). Bereavement Referrals: Services are offered regardless of the cause of death or time since the death.
Referral:
Accepted from any source, including self-referrals. For a referral form, email Danielle at: DanielleC@yorktownfamilyservices.com
Next Session Dates:
Grief and Bereavement Counselling Intakes completed on an ongoing basis
- Winter Memory Boxes Event – TBD
- Middles Group – TBD
- Littles Group – TBD
- Youth Group – Starting April 22, 2025
Contact : Danielle at DanielleC@yorktownfamilyservices.com
Sessions Per Year:
52 weeks per year
Service Duration:
Bereavement Program – up to 8 sessions
Groups – 8-10 sessions
Languages offered:
- English
- Translation Services Available
Hours:
- Tuesdays
- 5:30-7:30 Pm
Contact:
Danielle Courneya:
416-394-2424 Ext:1252
DanielleC@yorktownfamilyservices.com
Clinical Services
Individual and Family Counselling
Bereavement Program provides counselling support after a death to process and normalize grief, encourage emotional expression and communication, cultivate and enhance resiliency, explore helpful coping strategies, and support continuing bonds.
Child and Youth Group Programming
Growing With Grief offers support groups for children and youth throughout the year. The goal of the groups is to create a supportive environment where grieving children and adolescents have the opportunity to connect with similar-aged peers, express themselves, share their grief experiences, and explore their relationship with grief through the outdoors, art, and play.
Three groups are offered each year:
Littles Group (ages 6-9): a 7-week indoor group. “Littles” participate in expressive arts and play-based activities, where they explore grief feelings, build connections, and learn how to continue the bond with their person who died.
Middles Group (ages 10-13): an 8-week, mixed indoor/outdoor group. Through play-based and nature-based activities, “Middles” explore their grief feelings and different ways to cope. The focus is on learning that all feelings are okay, it is what you do with them that makes a difference, as well as learn how to continue the bond with their person who died.
Youth Group (high school aged youth): a 10-week, mixed indoor/outdoor group. Youth have the opportunity to build resiliency and meaningful peer relationships while developing skills, story sharing and participating in creative activities to explore their grief feelings and coping strategies, as well as learn how to continue the bond with their person who died.
Family Support Program
Our Family Support Program provides opportunities connect with a community of grievers who have experienced the death of an immediate family member through ‘Family Events’. These events are developed for children, youth and their parents or caregivers to decrease isolation through strengthening family & peer-relationships, practicing of self-expression, and honouring & remembering the person in their life who died.