Our Groups & Programs provides social, psychological, spiritual, and practical support to those in our community and in our residential hospice who have a life-limiting illness, their family members, and those grieving the death of a significant other. We offer a variety of services to address the unique needs of those in our community. All services are offered at no cost to the Sarnia Lambton Community.
Contact us for more information on our services or to complete an intake with one of our coordinators at 519-337-0537 or email at supportiveservices@sjhospice.ca.
Adult Bereavement Program
We recognize the unique grief and bereavement needs of families and individuals within our community. Grief is a process without a finish line, it includes the challenges of the adjustment necessary to adapt to life without our person. Our programs are designed to establish a fellowship for the bereaved, creating opportunities for mutual support, providing education on grief and bereavement and exploring the resiliency and strength within all of us to cope with loss and change.
Peer Support Group
Bereavement Peer Support Groups: are available to anyone in our community, regardless of the cause of death. Stories, experiences, understanding and companionship are shared among those with similar challenges impacted by grief. Emotional support is provided in a safe and non-judgmental environment while providing strength and coping through the most difficult days of your grief journey.
(Bereaved Parents, Spousal Loss, Family Loss and Substance-Related Loss are examples of grief groups offered at St. Joseph's Hospice).
Next Steps: We know that grief doesn't end just because your 8-week support group has completed, Next steps offers continued peer support and additional opportunities for grief expression.
Wellness Program
Join us as we focus on making connections through mind, body, and soul through weekly activities such as yoga, art, music, and crafts, etc. Activities are designed to reduce isolation, encourage healing, promote expression, improve mental health and physical well-being while providing a safe space to hold thoughts and feelings in a welcoming environment.
Social Club: Reduce isolation, connect with others while engaging in conversation and exploring enjoyable activities. Refreshments and conversation are offered while participation in activities is optional. Social Club is offered weekly.
Walking Group: An opportunity to meet and walk with others who are grieving or caregiving. Explore the benefits of connecting with nature and others who are journeying in their loss one step at a time with a leisurely scenic 2.5km route in Canatara Park guided by St. Joseph's Hospice staff or volunteers.
Information/Education
Grief Education Series: A 90-minute workshop of designed to gently introduce common themes in griefwork. Each person carries unique life experiences connected to grief. This series is meant to encourage thought, to provide education and offer support during a difficult time.
Resources: St. Joseph's Hospice is pleased to provide information packages, referrals, and book recommendations on any topic related to grief and bereavement, caregiving and living with a life-limiting illness for both adults and children. Our Lending Library is open to the public and is available for anyone interested in borrowing a book on a relevant topic.
How to Register:
Please contact the Supportive Services team by emailing supportiveservices@sjhospice.ca or calling 519-337-0537 to learn more about these programs and to register.
All programs are provided at no cost.
Click here to view our Groups & Program Calendar
Click here for Grief & Bereavement Resources
Caring Hearts Children’s Program: Supporting children, youth and families facing the dying or death of a loved one
Do you know a child or youth who is grieving? We can help!
Navigating grief when a significant person is dying or has died can be a difficult task for families. Grief is a natural reaction to loss, but children and youth often experience it differently than the adults in their lives. The Caring Hearts Children’s Program provides family-centered support by addressing the unique needs of children, youth and families anticipating a death and grieving after a loss.
- Child/Teen Bereavement Groups: Peer support groups are offered in the fall and spring to any child or youth in Sarnia-Lambton who has experienced the death of a significant person, regardless of the cause of death. Groups are separated by age and provide developmentally appropriate child/youth-centered activities. Various modalities such as games, art and music are used in group to focus on topics such as changes, feelings, self-care, and memories. Groups provide psychoeducation on grief, coping strategies, memorizing activities, rituals and guided supportive sharing. They are facilitated by a trained professional and supported by our skilled volunteers.
- Children’s Groups (ages 6-9 and 10-13) are 6 weeks long. There is a requirement of a commitment to all 6 sessions from the participants and their caregivers.
- Teen Groups (ages 14-18) are 8 weeks long. Teen groups are offered both at hospice, as well as directly within the high schools in Sarnia-Lambton (as requested by the school).
- Caregiver Resources: Education and resources provided to Caregivers to help them support their grieving child or youth.
- Caregiving for a Grieving Child Group: is an educational group for any adult in Sarnia-Lambton who is supporting a child/youth grieving the death of a significant person. Each group is 6 weeks long and runs concurrently with the Caring Hearts Children’s Program ages 6-9 and 10-13 groups. Groups have a curriculum that focuses on grief responses of children and youth based on developmental stages, ways to support grieving children/youth, and ways to navigate caregivers’ own grief while supporting others. This group is facilitated in collaboration with the Adult Bereavement Program.
- Kids’ Camp: An annual outdoor 5-day summer camp experience for children ages 6-13 grieving the death of a significant person. Kids’ camp is held at Canatara Park in Sarnia and is sponsored by the Kiwanas Club of Sarnia Lambton. This is an opportunity for children to take their grief outdoors and be supported by trained professionals as well as volunteers, while experiencing peer support in a day camp environment.
- Special Events are held throughout the year with children and their families to help memorialize and encourage a continuing bond with their significant person. These events are held prior to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the Holiday season in December to help prepare children and their families for the upcoming holidays. Special Events include a family-focused memorializing activity, supportive sharing, rituals of remembrance and promote a sense of community in a child/family’s mourning.
Support for Caregivers of Bereaved Children
New virtual program to help resource and support parents and caregivers caring for a grieving child or youth. Consists of 5-part education series of video recordings on the following topics:
Illness Support
From the moment of diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, the impact on an individual and their family can be overwhelming, confusing and unpredictable. St. Joseph's Hospice provides services to support and embrace the whole person and their family and caregivers throughout this journey.
In collaboration with a professional staff, each individual identifies their personalized care plan which may include education, resource connection, advocacy, emotional support or participation in any of our services offered, including:
In-Home Support
Volunteer Visiting: Our volunteers are compassionate listeners who enjoy giving of their time through companionship and support. It is not unusual for a visitor to join in on a beloved hobby, participate in card games or companioning on a walk while engaging in friendly conversation.
While the volunteer is with you, family caregivers may take some time for themselves.
Peer Group Support
Men's Coffee Group: An essential way for men to connect with others and receive support, understanding and resources in dealing with the challenges they face after a life-limiting illness diagnosis. With the opportunity to share and connect with other men, participants build a sense of camaraderie and find comfort and support in a relaxed non-judgmental atmosphere. Men's Group is offered bi-weekly.
Wellness Program
Join us as we focus on making connections through mind, body and soul through weekly activities such as yoga, art, music and crafts, etc. Activities are designed to reduce isolation, encourage healing, promote expression, improve mental health and physical well-being while providing a safe space to hold thoughts and feelings in a welcoming environment.
Social Club: Reduce isolation, connect with others while exploring a variety of activities. Refreshments and conversation are offered while participation in activities is optional. Social Club is offered weekly.
Caregiver Support
We recognize the mental, physical and emotional stress that individuals who provide care for their loved-one experience and we prioritize the importance of a caregiver's own health and well-being. We are committed to finding new ways to offer support while ensuring each person has an opportunity to feel validated, appreciated and valued. Services available for caregivers include:
In-Home Support
Volunteer Phone Support: We understand the challenges that caregivers may experience with attending programs outside of the home. Our Phone Support Program matches caregivers with a volunteer who can provide regular check-ins and conversation.
Peer Group Support
Caregiver Support Group: An opportunity to connect with others who understand the varied challenges, demands and rewards of caregiving in a relaxed and non-judgmental environment. Groups are offered bi-weekly.
Wellness Program
Social Club: Reduce isolation, connect with others while exploring a variety of activities. Refreshments and conversation are offered while participation in activities is optional. Social Club is offered weekly.
Walking Group: An opportunity to meet and walk with others who are grieving, bereaved or caregiving. Explore the benefits of connecting with nature and others who are journeying in their loss one step at a time with a leisurely scenic 2.5km route in Canatara Park guided by St. Joseph's Hospice staff or volunteers.
How to Register:
Please contact the Supportive Services team by emailing supportiveservices@sjhospice.ca or calling 519-337-0537 to learn more about these programs and to register.
All programs are provided at no cost.
Click here to view our Groups & Programs Calendar
Click here for Grief & Bereavement Resources
Complementary Therapies The term “complementary therapy” describes a wide range of therapies aimed at enhancing wellness and relaxation through mind/body techniques or touch therapy. The complementary therapies offered by the hospice are not curative treatments and are not an alternative to conventional medical practices. Rather, they complement the current care that the client is receiving and are meant to be gentle and relaxing for the mind, body, and soul. Therapies are offered in the Residence for those who are living in the Hospice Residence at the end-of-life, and to their family members.
The following therapies are offered by trained volunteers:
- Reiki – A Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by “laying on hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. A treatment feels like a wonderful flowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and well being.
- Massage – Registered massage therapists provide relaxation massage by using Swedish techniques consisting of long smooth rhythmic strokes and small circular movements which provide stress relief, improved circulation, decreased muscle/joint pain and provide an overall sense of well being.
- Therapeutic Touch – Therapeutic Touch is a holistic, evidence-based therapy that incorporates the intentional and compassionate use of universal energy to promote balance and well-being. Therapeutic Touch practitioners are educated to modify a person’s energy field when disease or illness obstructs or depletes their flow of energy. The treatment restores order and harmony to the client’s field. Based on the belief that the body can heal itself. Therapeutic Touch is a method of helping a person to mobilize their own natural healing abilities.
- Reflexology – Reflexology therapy is a natural therapeutic method derived from the study of the reflexes and based on the principle that there are reflexes in the body that map to other parts, glands, and organs of the body. Through the application of pressure on these reflexes in either the hands or feet, this therapy can relieve tension, provide relaxation, improve circulation and support the body’s efforts to function optimally.
We aim to help build an empowered community through education on illness, end of life, death, grief and bereavement. Through public education we hope to build capacity and reinforce the support systems for community members, decrease stigma, reduce death and grief phobia, and advocate for the recognition of dying, death, and bereavement as normal and fundamental aspects of the human experience.
Community Presentations - Staff will provide public education on the topics of end of life care, death, dying, grief and bereavement to the Sarnia-Lambton Community. The program is flexible to meet the needs of those in the community.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Professional development for those working with grieving children/youth
- Consultation to other professionals in the community working with grieving individuals.
- Presentations in classrooms from elementary schools (How to support a grieving friend) to Post- secondary classrooms (“Understanding Grief and Bereavement”)
- Support to staff in other workplaces who are caring for someone who is receiving Palliative Care or who are experiencing grief in the workplace.
- Education on Grief and Bereavement to religious communities.
Information Sessions - Educational presentations are held at the Resource Centre location. These presentations can be delivered by hospice staff or guest speakers. The information sessions are geared towards those looking for more information on the topic or practical support.
Information session topics for our Group and Program clients and their families include, but are not limited to:
- Taxes and Estates After a Death
- Coping Through the Holidays
- How to Support a Grieving Child
- Advanced Care Planning
- Grief Dreams
Lending Library: The library contains books that may be borrowed for one (1) month at no cost. Books are related to caregiving, living with a life limiting illness, children's grief, as well as grief and bereavement. The library is open to all residents of Sarnia Lambton. To learn more about available books, please e-mail us at supportiveservices@sjhospice.ca or call us at 519-337-0537.