Children

A child experiences and expresses grief very differently from an adult however the death of a parent, sibling, friend or other loved one has significant impact and a lasting influence on a child's life. Children's experience with grief varies depending on the type of loss and the developmental stage of the child and caring adults can be conflicted and confused when trying to support a grieving child. It is therefore important to identify the best approach based on the particular needs of the child. AHS provides one to one and group support for grieving children of all cultures and ages recognizing the different developmental stages, unique grieving styles and variety of types of loss.

Who can refer:

1. Parents
2. Physicians
3. Local schools
4. Child and Youth Mental Health
5. Xyolhemeylh Child and Family Services - the Aboriginal division of the Ministry of Children and Families
6. Police Victim Services
7. Friends and family
8. Counsellors in the Community
9. Fraser Health Hospice Palliative Care Team
10. Abbotsford Community Services
11. Fraser Health and Community Social Workers

One-to-one Support Services for Children

Volunteer Companions

An individual approach using specially trained volunteers that recognizes the different developmental stages, unique grieving styles and variety of types of loss and offers help at each stage.

Counselling

Registered Clinical Counsellors offer support to children and may use Play Therapy, Sand Tray Therapy & Expressive Arts to open other avenues of self expression.

Download the Bereavement Support Services for Children brochure (PDF file, 0.7MB)

Support for Abbotsford students in their schools, through our Stepping Stones program.

Trained staff will facilitate groups, support school staff and administrators, provide one to one support and resources to students

Reading materials for children and their caregivers

Public education

Community referrals

Children's Grief Support Group

• An 8 week grief support group for children ages 5-12 who have experienced the death of a friend or family member
• Explore Feelings in a supportive environment through expressive arts & play
• Develop skills to deal with grief in safe and healthy ways
• Meet other grieving children with similar issues and concerns

Expressive Therapies for Children

Expressive therapy is the intentional use of the creative arts and play as a form of therapy. This approach works under the assumption that through the imagination and the various forms of creative expression, children can heal.

Younger children have limited language to express their inner world verbally and therefore rely on play and creative expression as their preferred method of communication.

The therapist provides a wide variety of carefully chosen play and other expressive materials to help children express a wide range of emotions and facilitate processing of their worries and burdens. The combination of the safety created in the play room along with the creative expression, enables the child to discover inner strengths that help them deal with past experiences and cope with present life situations in more self-enhancing ways.

Through AHS Grief and Loss Services, specially trained counsellors provide Expressive therapies incorporate verbal counselling, art therapy, music and play therapy, dollhouse thereapy and sand tray therapy.

Stepping Stones

Providing support to grieving youth and school age children

The Stepping Stones Project:

• Provides a liaison with school counsellors and related staff
• Provides information/resource packages to schools for use by school counsellors, teachers and administrative staff.
• Presents to parent groups, PAC, APD, youth service groups and public forums on children and teen grief and AHS services available free of charge.
• Connects with child and teen service providers
• Plans and facilitate teen groups in schools, the community and at AHS
• Continues to assess the needs of the community with an eye to enhancing and expanding the youth program.