Grief & Loss Resources

Note: there is a separate page for resources for *Pet Loss*

• Dougy Center—National Center for Grieving Children and Families  

  • • Grief Resources & Toolkits for:   Kids | Teens  | Parents & Caregivers | Young Adults Schools| Advanced Serious Illness  & Living with an Advanced Serious Illness |  Spanish Toolkits/Resources 

• The Grief Coach - "Conversations about Life and Death." - Podcast | Blog | Instagram  

• Grief Mates - FREE writing workshop that provides the opportunity to use therapeutic writing prompts to get to know yourself in grief. Also offers a fee-based trauma writing workshop: “'Process to Product' designed to help writers develop their craft through even the most emotionally charged writing."   

• The Center for Loss and Trauma - Resources for Grievers 

• Good Mourning Grief podcast's Facebook Support Group 

• The Grief Channel   

• Refuge in Grief - Resources from Megan Devine, podcast host and writer of "It's OK that You're Not OK." 

• The Loving Kindness Meditation -- on Vimeo  

• The APA's description of Prolonged Grief Disorder, including a video explaining why it was added to the DSM.

• National Sudden Infant Death Resource Center - Resources and support groups for miscarriage, stillbirth, and other infant death. - Tel: 866-866-7437

• Center for Loss & Life Transition — On “Loss Overload” 

Support Groups & Local NYC Resources

• Good Mourning Grief podcast's Facebook Support Group 

• Center For Bereavement - 118 East 93rd St, Suite 3C, NYC 10128

Mary V. Sussillo, LCSW, BCD, Director: 917-453-6570 | email 

• Center For Loss & Renewal: Bereavement Counseling Groups and various resources and services - 212-874-4711 | Email | 168 W 86th St, NYC 10024 

• The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling's Grief & Loss Support Groups - tel: 917-382-8075 | 159 Bleecker St, 2nd Fl, NYC 10012 

• The Compassionate Friends' Support Groups - Supports family and friends of those who have lost a child. 

Manhattan Chapter Support Group - Website | (917) 300-3706

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 7 West 55th St., NYC, 10019-4902

Meetings: 3rd Tuesday of each month via Zoom at 7:00pm

Sibling Meetings: (Ages 14+) 2nd & 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:45pm

• NYC.gov Resource List

• A Caring Hand: Resources and support for bereaved families and children 

212-229-CARE (2273) | Website| info@acaringhand.org  

• Jewish Board Bereavement Services: Bereavement support for individuals and families 

888-523-2769 | src@jbfcs.org | Website

• Visiting Nurse Service of New York: Hospice and palliative care and support 

212-609-1900 | www.vnsny.org  

• The Center for Complicated Grief: Information on complicated grief - Website 

• MJHS Hospice: hospice, palliative care, rehabilitation and nursing for adults and children - Website 

• Compassionate Friends 

  • • (Manhattan): support for families after the death of a child (Manhattan) - Website

    • Compassionate Friends (Brooklyn): Website

• Tuesday’s Children - Programs for children and families with 9/11 related loss. 212-319-3988 | www.tuesdayschildren.org

• Suicide Bereavement Services of New York: A Psychological Center for Survivors. Dr. Eli Mayer, Executive Director: 212-931-8547 | www.sbsny.net

Readings

• What are the seven stages of grief? Understanding grief after loss on ThriveWorks (March 23, 2023).

• Anticipatory grief: Causes, symptoms & treatment on ThriveWorks (March 28, 2023). 

• Losing a Loved One Isn’t the Only Reason to Go to Grief Counseling from Eddins Counseling Center (Dec. 12, 2022).

• On the Death of a Sibling from Center for Grief Recovery and Therapeutic Services 

• What’s Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD)? from Monarch's blog. (Sept. 23, 2022). 

After the loss of a loved one, you may be wondering “Can grief be permanent?” Find out about prolonged grief aka complicated grief, the symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), and how to get help and support.

• What Ambiguous Loss Is and How To Deal With It: A psychologist shares ways to cope with a lack of closure, from The Cleveland Clinic (Feb. 27, 2022). 

• Yes, Sweetheart, You Do Get to Grieve Your Lost Childhood: Your abstract and intangible losses matter. Acknowledging them is healing. Psychology Today (Jan. 4, 2023). -- Link

• "Dreams of Departed Loved Ones ...And their emotional impact on people in times of change," by Layne Dalfen on the topic of Sleep & Understanding Dreams. Psychology Today (Jan. 20, 2023). - Link

• What to Do if a Friend Ghosts You: It’s not just a dating thing, and it can hurt. A lot. Here are ways to cope — and move forward. By Catherine Pearson, The New York Times (April 12, 2023).

• Coping with the loss of a friendship: How these connections evolve in adulthood and a counselor’s advice on allowing yourself to grieve by Jason Crosby on Thriveworks, (Aug. 18, 2021). 

• What Happened to Best Friends Forever? Grieving The Loss of a Living Friend by Eleanor Haley. (Oct. 1, 2020) on What's Your Grief. 

Talks about Ambiguous Loss and the loss of friendships in adulthood. 

Grief Resources for Children

• Helping Toddlers Cope with Grief & Death from Zero to Three. 

• Experience Camps - Summer camp and year-round programs for grieving children.  

"Grieving youth are more likely to endure mental health challenges, poor academic performance, and negative long-term physical and financial outcomes than their non-grieving peers. Left unaddressed, childhood grief can undermine a child’s future... However, with the proper interventions and an ecosystem of support around them, grief can lead to remarkable resilience...  Through compassion, connection, and play, we allow grieving children to embody a life full of hope and possibility."  

• Children's Grief Foundation  

• Kids Grief (Canada) - Resources for parents, educators and families to talk with kids and teens about serious illness, dying and death. 

• Books and Resources for Caregivers from Heart Health Hospice.  

• Attending Funerals, Memorials, and Other Rituals - An online tip sheet by the Dr. Jay Children’s Grief Centre 

• Some Dougy Center "Tip Sheets": 

  • After a Suicide: Ten Tips for Helping Children and Teens an online tip sheet by The Dougy Centre. 

  • Supporting Grieving Preschoolers - An online tip sheet by The Dougy Centre 

  • Books and Pamphlets from The Dougy Center  

• Preparing Children for Funerals and Memorials 

• Children and Youth Grief Network.

Books

• Kubler- Ross, E. Kessler, D., (2014). On grief and grieving: Finding the meaning of grief through the five stages of loss: Scribner, New York.

Podcasts

• Grief Out Loud - Apple

  • Episode with BJ Miller, "Reckoning With Grief At The End Of Life" (Nov. 11, 2020).

    • Mettle Health - a platform founded by hospice & palliative care physician BJ Miller that offers end-of-life support and counseling to caregivers and individuals facing terminal & chronic illness and the end of life. 

    • BJ's 2015 TED Talk "What Really Matters at the End of Life."

    • Interview with Krista Tippett of on OnBeing: "Reframing Our Relationship to That We Don’t Control."

• A Slight Change of Plans by Maya Shankar, Cognitive Scientist discusses human behavior, relationships, mental health and how science informs social interactions, decision making and emotions. - Apple | Spotify

  • • Surviving Grief: Lessons From a Grief Therapist. Julia Samuel is one of the world’s leading grief therapists. She joins Maya to talk about why it’s important to engage with our grief, and offers strategies for how to do that. Apple | Spotify | Second airing, Mary 25, 2023.

    • A Neuroscientist’s Curious Approach to Dying. - Apple | Spotify

At age 59, neuroscientist David Linden received a startling diagnosis of heart cancer. Even in the face of a terminal illness, David is continuing to think like a scientist. He shares what he's learned from watching his mind grapple with his own mortality, and how the diagnosis has changed his experience of time. Maya and David also discuss the power of curiosity and how it can aid us in moments of profound suffering.

• Good Mourning Grief - Apple | Spotify

• Grief is My Side Hustle with Meghan Riordan Jarvis, MA, LICSW. 

Calling on her personal experience from the deaths of her parents within two years of each other as well as years as a therapist, Meghan engages grief experts, grievers, authors, and creatives in discussion in the hopes of answering the question she hears most often from grieving clients: “What does it mean to grieve?” Guests include actress Alysia Reiner, Journalist Simon Kuper, Author/Neuroscientist Mary Frances O’Connor, and grief expert Hope Edelman.

• • • Angela Morris: Grief and Neurodivergence. Today Meghan sits down with the extraordinary author Angela Morris. She talks about how her ADHD diagnosis impacts her understanding of her own grief, and the profound secondary loss of friendship particularly in non-death loss.

• It's OK That You're Not OK with Megan Devine who is also featured on various other podcasts discussing issues, concerns and relationships as they pertain to grief

• The Grief Coach - "Conversations about Life and Death"  

Podcast | Blog | Instagram | Podcast Episodes: 

• Experiencing Loss Early with Business Coach Natalie Levy

Grief for Pets

See below section for Pet Loss Support Groups

Comprehensive List of Pet Loss Resources from the University of Tennessee Knoxville Veterinary Social Work School. (They also have a Financial Aid List)

• A few helpful worksheets for you when questioning your pet's Quality o of Life: 

- Euthanasia Decision Worksheet 

- End-of-Life Values and Goals Worksheet

- Quality of Life Scale

• When a Pet Dies, Helping Children Through the ‘Worst Day of Their Lives’ by Juli Fraga in The New York Times. (June 8, 2017).

• Grief & Loss: Coping with Losing a Pet from Helpguide.org | The Humane Society | Join an AKC Support Group

Podcasts:

• • It's OK That You're Not OK - Pet Loss and Veterinarians Who Cry: with Veterinary Oncologist and Author Dr. Renee Alsarraf - Episode Website | Apple

  • NPR's Life Kit - Processing pet grief with love (July 25, 2023). - Apple | Spotify

Comprehensive List of Pet Loss Resources from the University of Tennessee Knoxville Veterinary Social Work School. (They also have a Financial Aid List)

• A few helpful worksheets for you when questioning your pet's Quality o of Life: 

- Euthanasia Decision Worksheet 

- End-of-Life Values and Goals Worksheet

- Quality of Life Scale

• (Video) Pet Loss Grief: The Pain Explained - TEDx Talk by veterinarian Sarah Hoggan, DVM. -  YouTube

Grief & Loss During COVID-19

• NY State Psychological Association's Remarks

• The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Older Adults Living in the Community - Link

Support Groups for Loss of a Pet 

Through the AKC |  ASPCA | AKC Faceboook Pet Loss Support Group

Bideawee Rescue - The Bideawee Pet Loss Support program is a free service that convenes virtually on Zoom. Each support group is attended by individuals that have recently experienced the loss of a pet. The groups are facilitated by one of Bideawee’s qualified volunteers who specialize in animal bereavement or are Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). Support Group Qs: 866-262-8133

ASPCA - End of Life Care  | 

ASPCA National Pet Loss Hotline: 1-877-474-3310

List of National Hotlines - Link 

AMC (Animal Medical Center) Virtual Support Groups: 

Support Groups | Pet Loss Resources | Email 

Judith Harbour, LCSW, Social Worker: Email | 212-329-8521

Booklets: Supporting Your Child |  Supporting your Partner  | Supporting your animal

The Usdan Institute for Animal Health Education at the AMC - a leading provider of pet health information - go to their website for answers on pet health

If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts please call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255