OUR GRIEF SUPPORT SERVICES

The death of someone important to you is always difficult.  When they die by suicide, it can leave you feeling lost, confused and out of control. You may experience powerful and conflicting emotions like anger, guilt, denial, shock, helplessness and abandonment, that are difficult to cope with on your own. Stigma casts a shadow over suicide deaths that may leave us feeling alone and like no one understands.

Heartache2Hope recognizes how unique and complicated the grieving process can be after a suicide death. We believe sharing our grief journey with other suicide grievers helps ease the pain. We recognize that different types of support are helpful at different times in the grief journey. With that in mind, we offer a variety of supportive services to respond to these changing needs.

All these services have the goal of  providing the right kind of grief support at different times in the grief journey and offers the opportunity to give and receive support.

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Suicide Loss Closed Group

Our 12-week Closed Groups are co-facilitated by professionals and specially trained peer facilitators. Our Closed Groups:

  • provide a safe place for grieving individuals to share their experiences and feelings with others.
  • Provide education about the uniqueness of suicide loss grief and teach mindfulness-based stress reduction coping strategies
  • Relieve isolation created by suicide loss for the survivors.
  • Assist with healing and reconciliation.
  • Extend hope for a positive and productive future.

When: Winter, Spring and Fall sessions each year

Where: There is one in-person and one virtual Closed Group each session.  In-person Groups are held at the Canadian Mental Health Association Halton Branch office in Oakville.

Registration is required to participate in our support groups. If you would like to register for one of our support groups, refer a client, or just need more information

Suicide Loss Open Group

We offer virtual monthly drop-in group meetings for suicide loss grievers.

When: 1st, 2nd and 4th Monday evening of each month

Where: Zoom

Registration for each meeting is required. Information about our Open Groups can be found on our social media or website.  You can also subscribe to receive our emails.

One-On-One Grief Support

Sometimes, you may not be ready for a group support experience when you first reach out to Heartache2Hope. For these times, we offer Individual grief support sessions that provide a non-judgmental and understanding environment where your experiences and feelings can be shared freely. It can be very powerful to connect with another person who has also experienced a death due to suicide. Our peer supporters are trained volunteers who really understand what you're going through. There is also the option of grief support sessions with staff members.

If you require professional support, we also offer Grief Counselling with a staff member for children, teens, and adults.    Specialized Trauma Therapy can be arranged for individuals who found the person who died or witnessed the death.

Individual sessions may be virtual or in-person.

HopeLine

Our HOPELINE offers immediate suicide loss information and guidance.  Whether you are looking for someone to just listen or for some guidance, Heartache2Hope now offers the opportunity to connect directly with one of our Suicide Loss Bereavement Care Specialists. Our HopeLine can answer questions about suicide loss grief, provide information about our supportive services, how to help grieving children, teens, or adult family members and friends, or suggest other community support services.

Our HOPELINE is open Mondays and Thursdays from 1:00pm – 4:00pm. Call 289-474-5508.

The HopeLine is not a crisis hotline.  In an emergency, please call 911
or visit the resource page of the website for community Distress Lines.

Community Education

Heartache2Hope is able to provide educational presentations on the unique aspects of suicide loss and the grieving process that follows. If you wish to have us speak to your organization about suicide loss grief or about our program, please contact us.

Educational Presentations – We support the community by providing education on the unique aspects of the suicide loss grieving process.

Professional Training - We provide training to professionals and organizations on topics such as traumatic bereavement, suicide loss, and grief support.

*Please contact us to access the above services.

You don ‘t have to do it alone. For survivors, there is no right or wrong way to handle grief after suicide. Sharing feelings and experiences, and giving and receiving support can help survivors cope with their grief.

Take the first step towards healing from your loss.