The Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation offers a Loss, Grief and Bereavement Program for families who have lost a child. Our goal is to support families through this difficult experience by connecting them to other bereaved families, providing supportive services, and offering therapeutic and educational information. From talking with bereaved parents and family members, we know everyone has his or her own unique way of grieving. We realize support services or support groups may be very helpful to one person, but not helpful to another. Therefore, we offer different forms of support services to address varying needs. All services were created using feedback and input from bereaved parents who informed us of their experiences and needs. A description of our services within the Loss, Grief and Bereavement Program is provided below.

BEREAVEMENT PHONE COUNSELING AND SUPPORT
CBTF has clinical social workers who are available to provide support and counseling over the phone. Please call us at 866-228-4673 or email jelder@cbtf.org if you have a question, need help locating a resource or would like to talk.

FAMILY-TO-FAMILY NETWORK FOR BEREAVED FAMILIES
Through our Family-to-Family Program (F2F), we are able to connect bereaved parent mentors to bereaved parents looking for peer support. We would also like to connect bereaved grandparents and bereaved siblings. Mentors receive training and are available to support others through phone, email, or in-person.
If you would like to become a parent mentor for bereaved parents or meet a parent mentor, please call us at 866-228-4673 or email jelder@cbtf.org

Please email jelder@cbtf.org to inquire about dates and times of upcoming phone trainings.

“The feeling of connecting to other parents is that sense of knowing that you are not alone.”
-quote from a bereaved parent

“As a mentor, I appreciated the opportunity to reach out to other parents who have experienced the greatest possible loss, lend them an understanding ear, share my story, and offer hope that they will get through and be able to one day live productively, and feel joy again.”
-quote from a bereaved parent mentor

CBTF BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUPS
In-Person Groups
CBTF can help you locate a support group in your area. You can also find a large list of grief organizations that provide support groups at the bottom of this page. Contact jelder@cbtf.org

Jenna’s Corner Online Community Groups
Jenna’s Corner, CBTF’s private online community, offers live chat room discussions for bereaved parents and caregivers. Discussions are co-facilitated by CBTF clinical social workers and bereaved parent mentors. CBTF occasionallly offers grief topic-based discussions facilitated by grief professionals. To join Jenna’s Corner you can visit www.cbtf.org/registration and mark interest in bereavement programming when completing your profile. Once you join, you will receive email notifications about upcoming groups. For more information, call CBTF or email jelder@cbtf.org

CBTF PRIVATE FACEBOOK COMMUNITY FOR BEREAVED PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS
CBTF offers a private facebook community for bereaved parents and caregivers. Parents connect with each other, support each other and have discussions about the daily challenges of grief. CBTF social workers post educational and informational articles about grief and post resources that may be of interest to you. To request membership, please follow this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/269434893099934/

EXPERIENCES AND QUOTES FROM BEREAVED FAMILIES
View quotes >

MEMORY QUILT PROGRAM
CBTF is partnering with Surrounded By Love, a memory quilt program started by bereaved parent, Jana David, to provide a free memory quilt for bereaved parents who have lost a child to a brain or spinal cord tumor. Jana and volunteer quilters can make a quilt from the child’s clothes. Please contact us for more information or directly email Jessica Elder at jelder@cbtf.org

ONLINE MEMORY QUILT:
CBTF also provides an online memory quilt for parents to create through our website. In order to view it you can click here
To create a memorial page for your child click here