Support Groups
~Illness, Grief and Loss Support Services for Children and Families~

How did Circle of Care get started? Over 28 years ago, two families that were coping with the terminal illnesses of their children felt that there were not sufficient services to support their emotional needs as they experienced the illness and eventually death of their child. They started as a grass roots program and eventually has grown in to what we are today.

What is Circle of Care today? Today we offer illness grief and loss support services to children and families including families impacted by a life threatening illness such as breast cancer, other illness or death of a parent or sibling, or sudden loss.

SERVICES OFFERED

Ongoing Support groups: Living with Illness & Living with Loss

Our success in helping families heal is largely due to our Peer Support Groups. These groups meet every other week for 90 minutes and all members of the family attend. Separate support groups are held for children who are preschool age, school age and teens (ages 3-17) or as developmentally appropriate and for their significant adult or parent. These groups meet at the same time so the whole family can be served. Families may enter groups at any time, and stay in groups for as long as they find them useful. Groups are facilitated by trained community volunteers. Currently we have 35 volunteers that are recruited, trained and managed by our Support Group Program Coordinator Shoshana Phoenixx-Dawn. Families tell us these groups help them cope and feel less isolated at a difficult time.

Family Support program: Child or family counseling is available at home or at the Circle of Care office for children and parents/caretakers during the crisis of illness, or bereavement. Families receive counseling from one of our 8 graduate practicum and internship program students, who receive ongoing training and supervision from our Clinical Training Coordinator Melanie Whartenberg, MFT. Fees are set on a moderate sliding scale, and no one is turned away due to an inability to pay.

School and community-based consultation: Circle of Care provides telephone consultation and on-site services to schools and community groups where children are dealing with issues of a life-threatening illness or death. Arrangements can be made to provide time-limited, on-site intervention programs for families, students, or staff dealing with these crises. Interns also see children on campus at several Oakland Public Schools.

FREQUENT QUESTIONS

What to do if you would like to refer someone to Circle of Care? Have the family call us at 510 531-7551. We (Shoshana or Alinya) will conduct a brief phone intake with the parent or caregiver. We will assess if the family’s needs are appropriate for Circle of Care services. If appropriate, Initial Phone Contact information is then given to one of our counselors who will then call the family to make an appointment for a face to face intake typically lasting about 1 hr. Family will then get started in our counseling or support group services.

Are their any requirements to someone receiving Circle of Care Services? Do you charge for services? We will work with any family as long as there is a child somehow involved, who is impacted by an illness, or death. For example we can see an adult in individual counseling that has lost a spouse as long as the family has a child. We would refer out those cases that do not have a child involved. Fees are set on a moderate sliding scale, and No one is turned away due to an inability to pay.

If you would like more information we have many resources available, here are some listed below that can be easily emailed or sent out if needed:

• Guidelines for Helping Children who have Experienced the Death of a Loved One
• Talking to Children about Death
• Three Tasks of Grieving Children
• Developmental Stages and Responses of Children and Teens to Death
• Chronically Ill Parents and the Family
• Paths to Healing Trauma