OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center offers three services for children and teens:
We wait three months after the death before meeting with families to assess whether a child’s needs can be met in a grief support group. It takes varying lengths of time for children to understand and integrate a death based on their age, developmental level, and life experience. Many children need more than three months before they are ready to begin a group. Part of participating in a grief support group is to offer support to others as well as to receive support. It can take time following a death to be ready to support others.
If your child is age 4.5-11, you must be present in the lobby while your child is in group. Children at times will want to check in with a parent for comfort, to ask a question, or for help to the restroom. For security purposes, children 12 and older must be dropped off and picked up in the lobby, not outside the building.
OUR HOUSE grief support groups are co-led by highly trained and supervised volunteer group leaders. We utilize a non-disclosure model for our group leaders, meaning that they do not share their grief history or other personal information with group members.
As a non-profit agency, our services are offered on a sliding scale. The suggested fee for the Pre-Group Appointment is $65, and the suggested fee for each group meeting is $35; we can slide down to $1 for each service. Payment can be made by cash, check, or credit card. Private health insurance plans, Medicare, and Medi-Cal do not cover our services.
OUR HOUSE support groups are small, closed groups which rely on all members attending on a regular basis.
This appointment offers the OUR HOUSE Clinical team an opportunity to assess whether the child is emotionally ready to participate in a support group and to prepare the child to share their story with the other members of the group. In addition, it will be determined whether the child can tolerate hearing and supporting other children who are talking about the deaths that they have experienced.
Please see our What to Say, What to Do? information page.
For additional support materials, please review our library of Grief Pages.