Centre for Grief and Healing (Bereaved Families of Ontario - Halton/Peel)
Registered Name: BEREAVED FAMILIES OF ONTARIO -HALTON/PEEL
Business No: 118803667RR0001
This organization is designated by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as a registered charity. They comply with the CRA's requirements and have been issued a charitable registration number.
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Providing free, inclusive grief peer support for children, youth and adults through groups, one-to-one support, workshops, and events.
Our Services
We provide free, inclusive, peer-to-peer grief support to anyone aged 6 and up who is grieving the loss of someone significant. Our programs serve children, teens, adults, and older adults, offering a variety of services including individual and group support, community events, and educational workshops.
Our Grief Support Groups: Human connection is essential to healing after the loss of someone. Grief often brings a sense of isolation and loneliness, but connecting with others who understand can make all the difference.
Our in-person and virtual peer support groups provide a supportive, compassionate environment where individuals can share their stories, listen to others, and find comfort in knowing they are not alone. Each session is designed to foster connection and healing.
Our weekly, open virtual groups support people experiencing loss of a friend, family member, parent or guardian, or partner. Throughout the year, we also offer specialized closed groups, such as Child Loss, Death Cafés, Traumatic Loss, BIPOC Grief Healing Circles, and 2SLGBTQIA+ groups, providing safer and tailored spaces for healing. Learn more about our groups here.
Our Individual Supports: There is no single way to grieve, and each journey through loss is unique. Our one-to-one support offers a safer, compassionate space for individuals to share their thoughts, emotions, fears, and experiences from the privacy of their own space. These sessions create an environment where participants feel heard, understood, and supported as they navigate their personal grief. Whether structured or unstructured, these sessions are designed to empower and support individuals in their own process of healing.
Our Purpose
We are the bereaved, supporting one another as we learn to carry, grow with, and thrive in our grief.
We empower grieving individuals by providing inclusive mutual support programs, fostering hope and healing, and educating the public to help reduce the stigma surrounding grief and bereavement.
We listen. We understand. We care.
Our History
In 1977, John McKibbon, part of the chaplaincy department of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, whose own daughter had died of leukemia, initiated a parental bereavement support program endorsed by the hospital’s chaplain, Hugh Gemmell. Margaret Darte, Marilyn Lee, Diane Oakes Foster and Irene Clarfield, participants in this program then became involved in the development of a bereavement support program now known as Bereaved Families of Ontario (BFO).
After the death of her daughter Madeleine, Margaret Darte, along with four other bereaved mothers, co-founded Bereaved Families of Ontario through the Hospital for Sick Children.
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