The Childrens Room Center for Grieving Children

The Childrens Rooms mission is to create safe, supportive communities so that no child, teen, or family has to grieve alone. Services include free, peer-based grief support groups for families with children and teens aged 3 1/2 - 18, offered at our Arlington center, as well as in schools and community centers. We serve youth and families throughout eastern Massachusetts. We also provide programs exclusively designed to meet the unique needs of grieving teens; educational series for grieving parents and caregivers; monthly arts-based family nights; professional training; a robust referral warmline; and private consultations. All our programming is offered free of charge to grieving families who have experienced the death of a parent or child, knowing that death is often coupled with financial hardship. During FY 22, we served 90 families (95 adults and 133 children/teens) and had a total teen event attendance of 77 teens, including 30 teens attending for the first time. Family Night served approximately 50 unique families, totaling 165 individuals. Parenting While Grieving, an 8-week psych-educational didactic support group for spouse/partner loss, worked with 49 adults. Our community-based peer support groups served nine schools and 72 students. We also served 723 families and professionals with our information and referral services via either email or phone call.