Greater Boston and National Resources

Sometimes seeking help from a resource focused on a particular type of loss, or a specific shared identity group is helpful. The following list includes resources within and outside the Boston area. It may provide a starting point in navigating your own healing and coping process.

Sometimes, it is helpful to seek support for your particular loss or within groups organized around a shared identity. Here are some more specific resources. This is not an exhaustive list, we hope that it may provide a starting point for you as you navigate your own process.

The Covid Grief Network provides short term grief support and builds long-term communities for young adults who are grieving in the midst of this pandemic.

East Bay Meditation was founded to provide a welcoming environment for people of color, members of the LGBTQI community, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented communities. Their programs include meditation classes, daylong retreats, workshops, and classes.

The Group Peer Support Group (PGS) approach is a trauma-responsive support group model based on evidence-informed modalities that has been replicated in diverse communities nationally. More information and their calendar of groups and other offerings can be found here.

The Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Resources and initiatives are collaborative, and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. The foundation was founded by Rachel Cargle, a public academic, writer, and lecturer whose work is rooted in providing “intellectual discourse, tools, and resources that explore the intersection of race and womanhood.”

Network Care of Massachusetts is a directory of over 5,000 behavioral health programs and organizations across the Commonwealth, searchable by keyword and zip code.

Adrienne Maree Brown is a writer, social justice facilitator, pleasure activist, healer, and doula living in Detroit. Her website features reflections and information about her learn her books, articles, podcasts and other resources.

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab supports chaplains in various settings to attend to the changing needs of communities in American religious and spiritual life. There are a variety of helpful resources both for spiritual life professionals and lay people surrounding grief on their website.

JRI houses over 100 diverse programs focused on the needs of underserved individuals, families and communities including the following:

First Connections equips parents with tools, practical strategies, and connections to other families and their communities to foster healthy parenting and guide them through the first years of the parenting journey. Their New Parents Programs are free for families with children birth to age 8 in the communities of Acton, Bedford, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Hanscom, AFB, Harvard, Lincoln, Maynard, Sudbury, and Westford.

Boston Trauma Response Team provides rapid crisis response to homicides affecting young people (ages 13-24), short-term case management, coping groups, and follow-up psychological first aid services.

Housing Programs

Parents Helping Parents of Massachusetts offers a variety of online support groups for parents and families.

The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition provides updated Covid-19 resources specifically catered to immigrants and refugees.

The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN) is a “healing justice” organization that actively works to transform mental health for queer and trans people of color in North America. The organization develops capacity of QTPoC (queer and trans people of color) mental health practitioners, increases access to healing justice resources, and provids technical assistance to social justice movement organizations to integrate healing justice into their work. “Our overall goal is to increase access to healing justice resources for QTPoC.”

Pregnancy During the Pandemic is a free, virtual support group aimed to help pregnant women ease anxiety and build research-based coping skills.

Harvard Divinity School has created a curated list of supportive resources during times of grief and loss. We encourage you to explore these tools.

The Conversation Project is an organization devoted to facilitating end-of-life conversations.

Dr. Pauline Boss, educator and researcher, developed the study of Ambiguous Loss and provides strategies for tolerating this specific loss. Understanding and Help for Ambiguous Loss During the Ongoing Pandemic may help you to contextualize this loss for our current moment.

Covid-19 Conversations is a blog hosted by Harvard Chaplains Pat and Tammy McLeod where contributors are invited to share their experiences related to loss during the pandemic.

The Collective Psychology Project offers an essay on collective grieving amidst the pandemic.

You Good Sis is a collective for black and brown women looking for a mental, spiritual and physical check in. We strive to define and create a specific space dedicated to the wellbeing of women of color. They do so by offering a variety of wellness events as well as reflections through their blog.

Creighton University has organized a list of prayers and reflections on grief and loss specific to the Catholic tradition.

Bereavement Support Group an opportunity to meet others experiencing loss and grief, a program through Mt. Auburn Hospital.

The American Foundation for Sucide Prevention on Taking Care of Your Mental Health in the Face of Uncertainty.

Massachusetts Suicide and Crisis Hotline provides crisis counselors on local and national hotlines.

Advance Care Planning refers to the process of sharing with your loved ones your values and desires as to your own end of life care. In order to ensure that a person’s wishes for future healthcare are known and respected, it is important to complete a “Health Care Proxy” – a written record of decisions made about future medical care. The following resources are all designed to support you and your loved ones in this process:

● The Massachusetts Government Office of Emergency Medical Services provides various resources on end of life care including advance care directives.

Massachusetts Health Care Proxy Information

NIH National Institute on Aging

The Conversation Project

Better Ending (includes translations of the Health Care Proxy form in Spanish and Vietnamese and audio files in English and Spanish)

Honoring Choices, Massachusetts

The Healing Ground Project was founded by HDS alumna and certified spiritual director Shrestha Singh. She is currently offering a Virtual South Asian Women’s Circle with other group healing opportunities upcoming including the following:

● Children of Immigrants Circle

● Immigrant Parents Circle

● Renewal Circle for Activists and Justice Workers

● Power and Privilege 101 circle

Resources for Children:

The Children’s Room provides supportive space for children and young people to grieve together. The organization is based in Arlington, Ma.

A list of resources compiled by PBS for teachers and parents to use when helping children grieve.

The National Alliance for Grieving Children offers support and a breadth of resources.