Local Illinois Organizations:
Barr-Harris Children and Family Grief & Loss Center
https://barrharriscenter.org/
Provides services to recently bereaved children and parents.
Buddy’s Place
https://pillarscommunityhealth.org/services/behavioral-health-and-support-services/buddys-place-grief-support/
Offers family-based support groups for children and teens ages 4-18 and their families who are grieving the death of someone significant in their lives.
Cancer Wellness of Northbrook
https://www.cancerwellness.org/
Offers bereavement counseling and support groups for those who have lost a loved one to cancer.
Center for Grief Recovery
https://griefcounselor.org/
Provides an ongoing support group for bereaved families and individuals.
Department of Behavioral Sciences at Rush University
https://www.rush.edu/services/conditions/bereavement
Offers specialized bereavement counseling services and also offers a perinatal bereavement support group for women who have experienced a miscarriage.
Edward-Elmhurst Health
https://www.eehealth.org/services/pregnancy-baby/resources/
Offers a SHARE program for parents who have experienced ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. SHARE meetings are on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month from 7:15 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.
Fox Valley Hands of Hope
https://www.fvhh.net/
Offers short-term, individual counseling (two to three sessions) as well as two family support groups.
Gilda’s Club Chicago
https://www.gildasclubchicago.org/
Offers support for those who have lost a loved one to cancer.
Greater Illinois Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition
https://www.gippcc.org/
Increases access to compassionate, quality pediatric palliative care programming and bereavement support throughout the state of Illinois.
Heartlight Program at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/patients-visitors/resources-support-services-for-families/bereavement-support/
Offers support groups for families who have lost a child and offer support groups for both Spanish and English speakers.
Kids Above All – Camp Sheilah
https://www.kidsaboveall.org/
Builds better lives for children and families impacted by poverty, violence, and injustice.
Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care
https://www.lightways.org
Provides a sense of guidance, a moment of comfort, and the powerful positivity of light to anyone grieving the death of a loved one.
LOSS (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide)
https://www.catholiccharities.net/GetHelp/OurServices/Counseling/Loss.aspx
Provides a safe, non-judgmental environment where survivors of suicide can openly talk about feelings and experiences, and also help you to find community, direction, and resources for healing.
Loyola Medicine Hospice
https://www.loyolamedicine.org/hospice
Offers general grief support groups that meet and allow individuals to share their stories.
Lydia Home Association
https://www.lydiahome.org/
Offers individual and family counseling.
Missing Pieces
https://www.missingpiecesgrief.org/
Helps those who have experienced the loss of a child find needed resources to navigate their grief journey.
My Heartlinks Grief Center
https://www.myheartlinks.com
Connects with others who understand and counselors who can help you find ways to cope and ways to grow your hope.
Northern Illinois Hospice and Grief Center
https://northernillinoishospice.org/grief-healing/
Believes that no single way of grieving applies to everyone, you may find comfort in knowing that help is available in a variety of ways, including personal visits, support groups, newsletters, phone contacts, and various mailings and letters.
Northwestern Hospital, Palliative Care & Home Hospice Program
https://www.nm.org/conditions-and-care-areas/palliative-medicine-and-supportive-care
Northwestern Hospital, Palliative Care & Home Hospice Program provides education-based groups for adults who have lost another adult that meet for three-hour sessions during the day or evening.
Orland Park Church
https://www.orlandchurch.com/
Offers a support group for mothers to help them through the grief process of losing a child. The group meets the fourth Wednesday of each month at 1:00 p.m.
SIDS Alliance of Illinois
https://www.sidsillinois.org/
Offers a support group in Chicago that meets the third Monday of each month from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for parents who have lost a child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The Haven Network
https://www.thehavennetwork.org/
Is an independent Christian ministry offering life-affirming services, providing emotional, spiritual, and practical support for families who have experienced the death of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy, SIDS, and early infant death, and families who are facing a terminal diagnosis of their pre-born or newborn baby.
University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/comer
Provides support groups for children, teens, and their adult caregivers.
Willow House
https://willowhouse.org
Develops and provides supportive services for children, teens, families, schools, and communities who are coping with grief and the death of a loved one.
A Little-Known Economic Benefit for Bereaved Children
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Acclaimed Troubadour and Poet Beth Wood Writes About the Vulnerability of Grief In Her Poem, “LESS HEAVY THINGS”
Notable Poet Brady Peterson Speaks About the Acceptance of Grief In His Poem, “He Checks His Luggage”
Oklahoma Poet Laureate Nathan Brown Says Less Is More When Talking About Grief In His Poem “Nevertheless, It Moves”
