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 has been issued a charitable registration number.
Our Services
We provide free, inclusive, peer-to-peer grief support to any individual grieving the loss of a loved one. Our programs offer support to children, youth, adults, and seniors, and include a range of services from group support, individual support, community events, and workshops.
Our Grief Support Groups: Human connection is essential to one's healing process after experiencing the loss of a loved one. In grief, we often feel isolated and alone. We offer both open and closed groups that help those grieving by creating a powerful atmosphere of connection and support. Our groups include child loss, partner loss, parent loss, mixed loss, overdose loss, suicide loss, sibling loss, COVID-19 loss, and more.
Our Individual Supports: If an individual is not ready for a group, or group is not suitable to their needs, we also offer individual peer-to-peer support sessions. This allows grieving individuals a safe, individualized space to share their grief and feel supported.
Our Community Events & Workshops: We offer two annual memorial events, including our Loving Memory Ceremony and Walk to Remember. Additionally, we offer quarterly GriefTalk's where guest speakers in our community discuss the impacts of grief. Lastly, we offer our Navigating Through Grief workshop for professional development and community organizations.
Our Mission
We are the bereaved helping the bereaved learn to live with grief.
We empower grieving individuals and families 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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