Our physical office location remains closed at this time for most supports and services. Our program staff is available daily from 9 am to 5 pm to provide support for members remotely. For immediate emergency help, please contact 911.

At our organization, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive, trauma-informed grief support to meet the diverse needs of our communities. Here’s a look at the grief supports we currently offer:

One-to-One Peer Support Sessions: We offer up to 8 free, 30-minute sessions for adults (ages 18+) and up to 12 free, 30-minute sessions for teens, children, and adolescents (ages 6-17). These sessions can be conducted over the phone or via Zoom, with Zoom recommended for younger children (ages 6-13) to ensure a more engaging and comfortable experience.

Group Peer Support Sessions: Our group peer support sessions are a cornerstone of our support services. Please refer to our Adult Group Programs page for detailed information. We offer free ongoing weekly support groups and closed support groups throughout the year to foster a sense of community and shared healing. Most of our groups currently run via Zoom. We occasionally offer in-person support groups throughout the year at our main office location in Mississauga. These groups are offered based on demand, need, and availability of facilitators.

Events: We host two major annual events to honour, remember, and celebrate our loved ones. Our "Walk to Remember" fundraising event and the "Loving Memory Ceremony" are opportunities for communal support and remembrance. Subscribe to our newsletter or check our Events tab for updates and details.

Educational Webinars: Throughout the year, we provide various 1-hour webinars featuring guest speakers. These webinars cover a range of grief-related topics. For example, past topics such as Sleep and Grief, Complicated Relationships, and Navigating Suicide Loss were covered. Our goal is to amplify voices, spread awareness, and support you in your healing journey.

Professional Workshops: Our "Navigating Through Grief" workshops are designed for professionals, schools, businesses, and organizations. These workshops offer practical tips and tools to support oneself and others in grief, with varying costs and topics tailored to different needs.

Through these diverse support options, we strive to offer the compassion, understanding, and resources you need during your time of grief.

If you would like to register for an individual phone support session or for a group support session, please see the rest of our FAQ and/or Online Intake Form.

The Centre for Grief and Healing is a not-for-profit organization. All services provided and programs attended are free of charge, with the exception of ticketed events and our Navigating Through Grief workshop. All donations (monetary and in-kind) are greatly appreciated and are tax-deductible ($20.00 minimum for receipt). We operate thanks to the generous donations of corporations, community groups, academic institutes, funders and donors like you!

The Centre for Grief and Healing utilizes a peer support model. Our groups and one-to-ones are facilitated by adults who guide, listen and support each person while they express their thoughts, feelings and fears to help provide a new sense of normal and understanding. None of the services provided by the Centre for Grief and Healing are counseling, therapy, or crisis sessions.

Click our Peer Support Self Assessment to see if peer support is the right fit for you!

Peer support is the help and support that is given to you by someone like you - we are the bereaved helping the bereaved. Our staff and volunteers are all trained grief facilitators with different educational backgrounds. We are not counsellors or therapists; we are people like you who have experienced a death in

our family/friend circle and have undergone a similar journey of learning to cope and live with our grief. We are survivors of our grief - we can provide you with experiential knowledge, educational information and support that was and is gained through our lived experience of being similarly bereaved. Self-disclosure is to be expected from the peer support worker and facilitators own experiences.

Our peer support provides hope, acceptance, real understanding, empathy, and freedom to express ideas. Peer supporters help to maintain and strengthen the continuing bond with your loved one as repeated conversations about them are allowed and encouraged. They provide information and share strategies to normalize grief experiences and give guidance (ex. how to cope with special days). Peer support is a great aid to clinical support such as therapy and/or counseling.

Clinical services such as counseling and/or therapy involves little to no self-disclosure from the helper; rather, they draw from objective knowledge. They support individuals and families who may have pre-existing challenges in social functioning or other areas (ex. marriage and relationship support, navigating family dynamics, trauma, domestic violence, mental health challenges, etc.). Additionally, they support those who have developed serious difficulties in their grief (ex. risk of suicide, homicide, prolonged effects on one's health, mental health, sleep, etc.). These helpers focus on the person's background, their history, family, belief systems, and so on. Please visit psychologytoday.com if you find clinical support is more suitable for you.

Our organization does not deny the bereaved community from receiving our services and supports, unless otherwise noted (e.g., age limits). We are here to support you!

However, due to our increased demands and limited resources, we provide earlier dates and times for those that do reside within our catchment areas (Halton/Peel) and wish to receive one-to-one/individual peer support sessions. If you are only interested in attending our support groups, we are able to provide earlier dates and times for your mandatory group information session as no sequential individual support sessions are provided.

We highly encourage you to first seek support from one of our affiliates should they fall within your city/region. You can find the list of our affiliates here: https://bereavedfamilies.net/affiliates/. You can also find grief supports near you by filtering your region at this website: https://www.thehealthline.ca/ and searching "Grief and Bereavement Support". https://211ontario.ca/ is a 24/7 resource hotspot that provides real-time resources you are looking for within your area.