Bereavement Support

Support and Services for Families Facing Loss

Phoenix Children’s Hospital offers compassionate support, services and resources for families who have a terminally ill child or have recently suffered the loss of a child or sibling. We are here for our patient families throughout this difficult journey and ready to help however we can.

We partner with New Song Center for Grieving Children (a program of Hospice of the Valley) and Ryan House to provide comprehensive support services to families before, during and after the death of a child. Our grief and bereavement programs and services include:

Counseling and support

• Family support: Our counselors work closely with parents and siblings during a child’s illness and after they have died to help families cope with grief, create ways to remember and talk about their child, and find strength and hope for the future.
• Sibling support: We offer gentle, understanding counseling to children and teens who have a brother or sister with a medically complex condition. Our counselors help them cope with sadness, fear, guilt and other feelings often associated with the loss of a sibling and guide them through the grief process.
• Ongoing support: We continue to provide support for mourning families for two years after your child has died, which includes complimentary one-to-one and couples counseling, group support, mailings and follow-up calls.

Memorial services

Our memorial services help families and loved ones remember and honor their children.

• Interfaith Service is a time to come together as people of faith to remember and honor deeply loved children whose lives were too brief. We come together in compassion to support one another in our grief. We gather in this special place to pray side by side in mutual respect and cooperation to proclaim that our love is stronger than our grief. We invite you to join us in prayer for continued healing. This is a family-friendly service with activities for children ages 5 to 17 and light refreshments. For more information, email memorialservices@phoenixchildrens.com or call 602-933-3025.

• Hospice of the Valley Light Up a Life is an annual event at the start of the holiday season to remember and celebrate loved ones. A photographic tribute set to music and projected against the night sky is the highlight of this no-cost community event.

Workshops

We host several workshops throughout the year to help families cope and move forward after the death of a child.

• Sibling Bridges of Support and Hope offers support and coping skills for children who have a sibling who is living with a terminal illness or has died.

• Coping with Grief During the Holidays provides support and techniques to work through the challenges that grieving people face during the holiday season. While these skills are particularly useful during the holiday season, which tends to focus on family, traditions and joy, they can be used throughout the year on other important days such as birthdays and anniversaries.
• Intention-Setting Workshop brings families together after the holiday season to focus on intentions for the new year. An intention is a guiding principle and a way to bring our heart and mind into alignment. It is heart driven and evokes feeling and purpose – a way to thoughtfully direct our actions as we move through the year ahead. We provide guided activities for children ages 5 to 17 and their parents. Light refreshments are served.

Helpful resources

To further help during this difficult time, we connect families with valuable resources such as support groups, planning documents, events and more.

• New Song Center for Grieving Children is open to any child, teen or young adult in our community, who is grieving the death of a loved one. There is no cost to attend New Song support groups or activities.
• Enduring Ties Bereavement Support Group Page is our private Facebook group for families who have lost a child under 18. Request to join the page.

We’re Here for You

For more information about grief and bereavement support at Phoenix Children’s, please contact Amanda Sahli at 602-933-3064 or asahli@phoenixchildrens.com.