Our Programs

• Telephone Contact: A bereaved person knows that someone is available to listen to them who understands their thoughts and feelings. Often extended family members, friends, colleagues, or professionals call to ask for assistance in helping a bereaved person.
  
  
• One-to-one Support: The bereaved person has someone to talk to individually who really understands. This is usually prior to joining a group, so that both the volunteer and the bereaved person may decide together if group work is the best option for the individual at that time. Sometimes a group member will request a one-to-one session during the group session if there is something that cannot be discussed with the whole group.
  
  
• Small Group Sessions: These groups of 8-12 people meet for ten to twelve weeks with trained facilitators. The two-hour sessions are meant to explore the common elements surrounding parental bereavement. These groups are for bereaved parents who have lost a child before birth, after birth, and from childhood to adulthood.
  
  
• Family Support Nights: Family Support Nights are held four times a year through-out Durham Region. Topic covered are How Time Affects the Grief Journey, Paranormal Experiences of Grief, Summer Family Care & Share Evenings, and Continuing to Love When Your Heart is Broken, Coping With The Holiday Season, to name only a few. For more information on upcoming Family Support Nights phone the BFO-Durham office at (905) 579-4293
  
  
• Training: Having experienced the bereavement process, potential trainees are screened by a bereavement counselor to establish suitability in their sensitivity to others, their ability to listen and communicate effectively, and their own emotional well-being. Once selected, the trainees undergo 20 hours of training. The training sessions include lectures by professionals on grief, typical and atypical grief reactions, effects on the family system, religion/spirituality, volunteers meet with an advisor to ensure on-going assessment of group members and to provide support for the volunteers.
  
  
• Library: Resource material is available to those in need. Our affiliate is in the process of acquiring books, audio and videotapes for families to refer to and to borrow. The subject matter covers the range of grief issues throughout the life cycle.
  
  
• Newsletter: Each year we publish four newsletters. Distribution is handled through the mail and through our office. Information on special events, inspirational messages, children remembered and current support programs are a few of the items covered in each publication.
  
  
• Development and Distribution of Brochures: There are brochures for public awareness which describe our various support programs and how we can help, as well as educational brochures for professionals who come in contact with the bereaved (nurses, clergy, teachers, etc.)
  
  
• Speakers Bureau: We speak to health care professionals, those who come into contact with the bereaved, the general public and the bereaved themselves. We inform and raise community consciousness regarding the needs of the bereaved and the profound effects of grief and bereavement on the individual, the family, and the community.
  
  
• Cards of Remembrance: Each family is remembered on the anniversary of the death of their child. Kind words and warm gestures bring comfort to families at a time where emotions are deep.

For more detailed information on any of these support programs, please contact the BFO-Durham office at (905) 579-4293.

There are no fees for any of our programs, but donations are always welcome.