Grief and Bereavement Services
Bereavement resources for your family
Grief support options to help you cope.
Our staff can recommend and connect families with trusting and caring grief counseling services in our area. In your time of grief, counseling is important in helping you to come to terms with the passing of a loved one.
Well trained and compassionate, the counseling groups we work with are there in your time of need.
Below, we have provided a list of various counseling resources that we have compiled over the years. Please be sure to consider contacting these organizations if you feel a need for counseling.
Check A Therapist’s Credentials
Check the credentials of your mental health provider:
NYS Professions: Online Verifications
www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm
New York State Education Department
Office of the Professions
www.op.nysed.gov/home.html
State Education Building, 2nd floor
89 Washington Ave. Albany, New York 12234
Call: (518) 474-3817
E-mail: op4info@mail.nvsed.gov
Cancer-Related Bereavement
Cancer Care
For family members who have cancer or whose loved one had cancer
275 Seventh Avenue, 22nd Floor, (between 26th and 27th Streets)
New York, NY 10036
800-813-HOPE
Contact: Intake department or bereavement coordinator, Amanda Sutton, x6138
Leave message and they will call you back.
Cancer Care offers groups to address the concerns of a variety of populations who are affected by any type of cancer, at any stage which includes:
- Bereavement Support for Partners and Relatives
- On-site groups, telephone support groups (800-813-Hope), and online support groups (www.cancercare.org)
- Cancer care offers more than 50 support groups each month, where people meet face-to-face, over the telephone, or online to discuss problems, gain support, and learn from other. Each of these groups isled
by a professional oncology social worker from the staff of Cancer Care.
Calvary Hospital
1740 Eastchester Road Bronx, NY 10461
Contact: Dr. Sherry Shack, Director of Bereavement Services
(718) 518-2125
Groups are open to the community and run by professional pastoral counselors.
Red Door Community (Formerly Gilda’s Club NYC)
reddoorcommunity.org
195 West Houston St.
Contact: Anyone in the program department can be of assistance 212-647-9700
Gilda’s Club New York City Mission: To support, educate and empower individuals impacted by cancer and their families. Their free comprehensive cancer program includes support groups, educational lectures and workshops for individuals living with a cancer diagnosis, caregivers, and anyone grieving the loss of a loved one to a cancer-related illness – men, women, teens, and children. For more information, please call and find out when the next orientation meeting for new members is being held.
Hospice Foundation Of America (HFA)
www.hospicefoundation.org
1707 L St. NW, #220
Washington, D.C. 20036
Call: (800) 854-3402
Fax: (202) 638-5312
HFA is a nonprofit organization that promotes hospice care and works to educate professionals and the families they serve in issues relating to care giving, terminal illness, loss and bereavement.
Locate a hospice https://www.medicare.gov/hospicecompare/
Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital
1275 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021
646-888-4889
https://www.mskcc.org/experience/caregivers-support/support-grieving-family-friends
Open to the community when the death is cancer- related. Groups run by a certified grief professional.
Types of Groups: loss of spouse, loss of an adult child, adult loss of a parent, adult loss of a sibling (or other important relationships). Ten weeks for one and a half hours each. These groups are held on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and are closed. There are also drop-in general bereavement groups held during the day.
Hospice Based Bereavement Services
All hospice groups are open to members of the community in addition to families served by the hospice.
Metropolitan Hospice and Jewish Hospice of Greater New York
39 Broadway, Suite 200
New York, NY 10006
Contact Bereavement Coordinator: Frank Attanasia
Chaplain: Rabbi Charles Rudansky
(212) 649-5555
Bereavement And Loss Center Of New York
www.lossandrenewal.com
168 West 86th St., Suite 1D New York, NY 10024
Call: (212) 874-4711
Call: (212) 799-9180
Fax: (212) 749-2481
E-mail: info@lossandrenewal.com
Hospice Services Outside of New York City
AARP Grief and Loss Programs
VNS Hospice of Suffolk
505 Main Street Northport, NY 11768
Contact: Joan Lewis, Bereavement Coordinator, jlewis@vnshs.org
(631) 930-9316
Groups are held Friday afternoons, 4:00-5:00
The Compassionate Friends
The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
Manhattan Chapter
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
7 West 55th Street
New York, NY 10019-4902
Staten Island Chapter
The Regina McGinn Medical Center
475 Seaview
Staten Island, NY 10305
Bronx Chapter
3411 Wayne Ave
Bronx, NY 10467
Be sure to contact the chapter through their web site, or contact the national office, to confirm the meeting time, day, and location.
Hospice Care Network- Bereavement Centers
Large selection of population specific groups
Queens: (718) 939-2273
Nassau: (516) 832-7100
99 Sunnyside Blvd.
Woodbury, NY 11797
Suffolk: (631) 666-6863
14 Shore Lane
Bay Shore, NY 11706
General and Population-Specific Bereavement Groups
Office of Family Life
Pastoral Bereavement Program
(646) 794-3185
In every borough and most counties, non-denominational
Groups run by trained volunteers
National Council of Jewish Women
241 W. 72nd St
New York, NY 10023
tel: (212) 687-5030 ext. 10
website: www.ncjwny.org
General bereavement group for adult men and women group is generally held in the afternoons, 8 consecutive 90 minute sessions
Center for Loss and Renewal
Contact: Benyamin Cirlin, CSW
(212) 874-4711
168 W 86th St., #1D, NY
Individual and group counseling available
The 92nd Street YMCA
1395 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10128
Groups for Widows/Widowers and for loss of parent
Bereavement Services for Older People
AARP Grief and Loss Programs
(New York Service Program for Older People) Widowed Person’s Service.
Day and evening groups led by trained widowed persons
Contact: Barbara Danish, 212-787-7120
302 W 91st
New York, NY 10024
Next step groups are for those who have been widowed for more than one year. Bereavement support group for adults who have lost a partner or spouse. There are day and evening groups available. All groups are 8-10 sessions. Under the direction of a qualified coordinator, trained volunteers, who are widowed, provide comfort, support, and understanding. They offer support groups and personal one-to-one support services.
Parents and Siblings who have suffered the death of a child
Compassionate Friends
For bereaved parents and their siblings
Groups are organized and run by parent survivors
Local Office – (212) 439-8111
Second Tuesday and 4th Tuesday at 7:00
Marble Collegiate Church
1 West 29th
Jewish-Identified
Jewish Board of Family Services (JBFCS)
212-795-9888 x143 for intake – Marilyn Comacho or Sheila Ramich at 212-632-4692
Groups for children who have lost a parent or significant other beginning at age 5-teens
Groups begin in the spring and the fall and are 12 weeks in duration
They are held from 4:15 -5:30 and there is a simultaneous educational group for parents
549 West 180th St., New York 10033
Metropolitan Hospice and Jewish Hospice of Greater New York
39 Broadway, Suite 200
New York, NY 10006
Contact Bereavement Coordinator: Frank Attanasia
Chaplain: Charles Rudinsky
(212) 649-5555
Chai Lifeline
Telephone conference groups led by a social worker bereavement retreats
Contact: Rabbi Moshe E. Bomzer
(212) 465-1300
151 West 30th St. New York, NY 10001
The Jewish Center for Spiritual Care of the New York Board of Rabbis
Spiritual Care Hotline and Pastoral Visiting Program
171 Madison Avenue, Suite 1602
New York, NY 10016
Contact: Rabbi Debrah Cohen or Rabbi Joshua Zlochower
212-983-3521
For residents of the East Side of Manhattan and Queens who are homebound and alone. The rabbis will make home visits to offer spiritual support and make referrals to other services
Children
Jewish Board of Family Services (JBFCS)
212-795-9888 x143 for intake – Marilyn Comacho or Sheila Ramich at 632.4692
Groups for children who have lost a parent or significant other beginning at age 5-teens
Groups begin in the spring and the fall and are 12 weeks in duration
Graham-Windham Manhattan Mental Health Center
274 West 145th St., 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10039
Contact: Kate Sherman, CSW
(212) 368-4100 x22
Groups held Thursdays 4:00 – 5:00
For girls and boys ages 10 – 13
Uses psychodrama, and action methods to facilitate the grief process
See Chai Lifeline
See Visiting Nurse Service of New York – groups for children
The Sanctuary
2 Washington Square
Lobby Suite South
Larchmont, NY 10538-1448
Contact: Amy Liebman-Rapp
tel: (914) 834-4906
website: www.thesanctuaryforgrief.org
Seminars on loss and grief for children and teens bereavement groups for students individual grief counseling for children and adults resource material.
Lesbians and Gay Men
Center for Gays and Lesbians
208 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email socialgroups@gaycenter.org for intake assessment.
(212) 620-7310
Grief Support Group, 2nd and 4th Monday of every month, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
Gay Men’s Health Crisis
307 W. 38th St.
New York, NY 10018
Mental Health Services, (212) 367-1000
Living after loss group, 10 week group
See Visiting Nurse Service: Gay and Lesbian Bereavement Group
Contact: Donna Danrille
(212) 290-3923
SAGE (Senior Action in a Gay Environment)
contact: Allan: (212) 741-2247 ext. 229
208 West 13th St.
New York, NY 10011
Provides mutual support to older gay men and lesbians who have lost their life’s partner or who are caring for their partner who is gravely ill. Screening before attending first meeting.
Survivors of Suicide
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
120 Wall Street, 29th Floor
New York, NY 10005
1-888-333-2377
Survivors of Homicide
Parents of Murdered Children
(513) 721-5683
Spanish Language
see Visiting Nurse Service of New York
See Calvary Hospital
General Bereavement group for Spanish-speakers meets the third Thursday of the month.