2009/10 ANNUAL REPORT - Canadian Mental Health Association

Adult Bereavement
Kid’s Grief works
The Bereavement Program provides education and support to help
individuals understand, cope and express grief in a healthy way.
Individual appointments with specialists are provided, as well as, peer
led support groups for those experiencing recovery from grief.
This year our specialists provided professional consultation to the
WHS-EAP and provided on site Grief Crisis to Haitians living in
Windsor who were impacted by the earthquake in Haiti.
Our Bereavement team was instrumental organizing our first
candlelight vigil in memory of children who have died. Over 700
people attended the vigil which was part of the World Wild Candle
Lighting Event.
2008 2009
1.8 FTE........... Number of Served, 718 935
Number of Groups, 100 110
Number of Volunteers, 18 30
Number of Workshops, 25 24
Over the past year our Bereavement Specialists were interviewed on
the radio and for various print media stories.
This specialized program assists
children and youth to cope with
grief and trauma after the death of
an important person in their lives.
The program also educates the adult
community attached to the child so
they too can support grieving children
in a healthy way.
In partnership with The Windsor
Chapel funeral home we created
Lucky‘s Journey, a coloring book for
children experiencing grief. This book
is now available to assist caregivers
supporting children who are grieving.
Over the past year the Grief Therapists has completed her studies
in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for children who have experienced a
trauma. An adolescent group will be starting in April 2010.
This group is supervised by the Counselor and facilitated by a trained
Child and Youth Worker. The children are encouraged to interact
with peers and begin to see that they are not alone.
As of April 2009 the staffing has reduced to 1 FTE.
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