We know that accessing help and navigating services during the loss of a baby or child can be overwhelming, as well as incredibly difficult. Here are a few resources that may help you with your grief process.
The Compassionate Friends is an international, non-profit, non-denominational, self-help organization, offering friendship, understanding, grief education and HOPE for the future to all families who have experienced the death of a child at any age, from any cause. http://tcfcanada.net/
Bereaved Families of Cape Breton- Resources to support people who are grieving and those that are supporting them. They have developed multiple support programs for differing types of grief and for differing reasons. http://www.bfocb.ca/
IWK Health Center- The IWK Spiritual Care Department offers a bereavement support group for parents who have experienced a pregnancy loss or the death of a newborn baby. The Pediatric Palliative Care Service keeps a listing of grief support groups in the community for parents, children, teens, and other grieving individuals.
Bereavement Coordinator: 902-470-8942, IWK Switchboard: 902-470-8888
http://www.iwk.nshealth.ca/services#/content/grief-and-bereavement-support
Open Door Healthy Life Choices- Halifax; If you have experienced loss, we understand that you need a safe, judgment free place to talk about what you are thinking and feeling. We understand that this is not easy. Everyone handles loss differently.
Infant loss appointments: We offer 60 minute appointments, free and confidential. We do not have psychologists or psychiatrists on staff. If you are in need of professional counseling, we can provide you with the contact information of these professional services. http://www.opendoorcentre.com/
Call (902) 422-8539 to make an appointment today.
Daddys With Angels- A great online resource for fathers. To relieve the suffering and emotional distress amongst persons suffering bereavement, in particular, but not exclusively male family members following the loss of a child/children.
Baby's Breath- For over 40 years, Baby’s Breath has been Canada’s only national foundation focused on SIDS, and more recently also dedicated to supporting families and encouraging research aimed at reducing all sudden and unexpected infant deaths including stillbirths. The death of an infant is devastating not only for the parents, but for the entire family. Siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are all affected by the sudden death of a baby. Baby’s Breath believes no one should endure the grief of such loss alone. https://www.babysbreathcanada.ca/
Glow In The Woods: For Babylost Mothers and Fathers- A writing forum started by Nova Scotia author Kate Inglis for parents of lost babies and potential of all kinds: come here to share the technicolour, the vividness, the despair, the heart-broken-open, the compassion we learn for others, having been through this mess — and see it reflected back at you, acknowledged and understood.
NS Parents of Multiple Birth Association- POMBA offers a number of links through their website that deal directly with loss associated with twins, triplets or higher multiples, including the following: https://jumelle.ca/resources-for-families-expecting-twins-multiples/bereavement-support-2/ and http://www.climb-support.org/
Beyond Yonder: Death Midwifery- BEyond Yonder Death Midwifery articulates the potential benefits of community centred and ecologically sensitive responses to dying, deathcare and grief; by supporting and empowering families to reclaim their ethical and legal rights to provide home based deathcare without professional intervention if they so choose. http://www.deathmidwifery.ca/death_about.html
Anchor For Hope- An online support group for grieving moms through infant loss, still birth and miscarriage in the Yarmouth and surrounding area.
2017 Directory of Self-Help and Support Groups in Nova Scotia- Bereavement services can be found on pages 20-27 and are broken down by region.
http://selfhelpconnection.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2017-Directory.pdf
Cognitive Behaviour Therapists, Nova Scotia-This link can be searched by availability in various areas of the province. The underlying concept behind CBT is that our thoughts and feelings play a fundamental role in our behavior. The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to teach patients that while they cannot control every aspect of the world around them, they can take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists/cognitive-behavioural-cbt/nova-scotia
Grief and Bereavement Therapists, Nova Scotia- This link can be searched by availability in various areas of the province.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists/grief/nova-scotia
Shambhala Centers: Making Enlightened Society Possible- The link will enable you to find Shambhala Center or group locations throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and beyond. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention on purpose to the present moment without judgement. Cultivating a mindful practice is one way that we can really help ourselves learn to listen to what we need emotionally, physically and cognitively.
Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention- If you or anyone you know might be in a suicidal crisis, please reach out. In Nova Scotia, there is the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team and SOS Cape Breton(Survivors of Suicide), or call 911.
Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapy in Nova Scotia- Many parents who suffer loss may experience varying degrees of trauma or PTSD. The link provides a list of therapists available throughout the province.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists/trauma-and-ptsd/nova-scotia
NSHA Music Therapy- Music Therapy enhances quality of life, improve, maintain and restore mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health for many patients and residents within Nova Scotia Health Authority's (NSHA) Central Zone community.
Atlantic Association For Music Therapy- The AAMT members in the link have chosen to list their contact information. Please note that this list does not represent all accredited music therapists (MTAs) in the Atlantic Provinces or all MTAs who are members of AAMT.
