Joining a Peer Support Group
If your own family has experienced the death of someone close, or if you know of another grieving family who you think could benefit from the services of the Caring Place, there is a process to follow in coming to attend the Caring Place. The steps that you can take to join a peer support group are shown below. The following section explains how you can help another grieving family get in touch with the Caring Place.
We are a grieving family and we would like to come to the Caring Place. What do we do?
If you and your family are interested in the peer support groups at the Caring Place, here's what you should do:
- First, you can call the Caring Place facility nearest you. Visit the Locations page to see where the four Caring Place sites are located.
- When you call, you'll speak with the Administrative Assistant at that site and provide some basic information about yourself and your family.
- Next, you will talk with one of the Child Grief Specialists at the Caring Place. He or she will be interested in hearing about the person who died in your family as well as how you and your children are doing since the death. During this call, you will also learn more about the Caring Place.
- If the Caring Place is a good fit for your family, you and the family members interested in coming to our program will attend an orientation session. This is an opportunity for you and your children to see what the Caring Place is actually like.
- After attending an orientation session, you and the Child Grief Specialist you spoke to earlier will decide whether or not the Caring Place can provide the support your family needs. If it is decided that your family will attend, Caring Place staff members will work with you to place your family in an upcoming group session that works within your schedule.
I know a grieving family who could benefit from your program. What should I do?
We often receive calls on behalf of children or families whom the caller knows is grieving, sometimes quite painfully. The desire to help is very understandable, but because of privacy concerns, the Caring Place is unable to initiate a call to a grieving family.
If you know a family that has suffered a death, you can provide them information about the Caring Place and encourage them to make the call themselves. We would also be happy to provide you (at no charge) with one of our brochures to give to the person you know, to provide them with an overview of the program.
We have heard from Caring Place families that they have generally heard about the Caring Place three or four times before they actually made the call — sometimes weeks, months, or even years after first hearing about it. This is very common and very understandable. If you still think the Caring Place might help the family, you might gently ask them about it again, three or four weeks later. And if you happen to have an extra brochure with you, they might be very grateful.