Our Palliative & Supportive Care Program offers support, education, basic counseling, and referral for anyone coping with the grief that accompanies one’s own serious illness or the illness or death of a loved one. For close family and friends of our patients who die, services are available for approximately one year after death. Services are available as individual, family, or group sessions and are provided in person or by phone. We also run a Grief Support Group year-round every Wednesday from 1-2 pm via ZOOM until further notice. All services are free of charge.
The focus of our care during bereavement is on helping families and friends heal after the loss of someone they love by:
- understanding the grief process
- actively doing one’s grief work
- assisting with handling social issues including finances, legal/business affairs, housing, insurance, wills
- optimizing wellness – diet, exercise, stress reduction, mind/body modalities, coping strategies
- attending to spiritual/existential issues and enhancing meaning-making and growth
- coping healthily and effectively
- ultimately, recovering from grief and adjusting to a life in which the deceased loved one is absent
When the level of counseling required is beyond the scope of our program, referrals to outside mental health therapists are made with the client’s consent.
Monthly newsletters and volunteer support are available, as are educational consultations and/or presentations for organizations and workplaces.
Our Coping with Cancer Support Group and our Library Resources or Internet Resources may also be helpful.