Throughout the pandemic, the need for one to one counselling significantly increased across the province, and Sarnia Lambton was no exception. In June of 2020, St. Joseph ’s Hospice responded to this growing demand by offering professional one to one counselling in the areas of bereavement, anticipatory grief, and spiritual care to adults and children in the community.

At this time, we have exceeded our capacity for the program, and have had to make the difficult decision to temporarily put a hold on adding additional names of those 18+ to our counselling waiting list.

Until we have the capacity to resume accepting new clients for one to one counselling, we want to support our community and clients the best we can If you or someone you know is reaching out for support, our staff will assist in navigating where in the community you may be able to access one to one counselling services from our community partners. Our staff will also provide additional information about the upcoming group support programs we are offering at Hospice. Some of the group support programs
offered throughout the year are:

• Bereavement Mutual Peer Support Groups (Bereaved Parents, Spousal Loss and Family Loss)
• Grief Education Group (open to all individuals regardless of cause of death or relationship to the deceased)
• Bereavement Walking Group

These services are offered at no charge to those seeking support. Unfortunately, we do not receive government funding to support professional one to one counselling services, and we rely solely on our fundraising efforts to support this program.

We are working with our provincial association, Hospice Palliative Care Ontario ( to advocate for designated funding for grief and bereavement counselling services to help meet what is a foreseeable growing demand. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this challenging time and we look forward to working together both internally and externally with our community partners to continue to provide the best possible care for our clients and those we serve.

This is not a decision that was easy to make, and it is not a situation we take lightly. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Larry