How to Cope – DFW

Coping with loss takes time and impacts people differently, both emotionally and physically. Here we list resources specific to the DFW area to aid in the grieving process in no specific order. For other resources on how to cope, you can visit this page.

TeamMercy
Location: 1079 W. Round Grove Rd. Suite 300-504, Lewisville, TX 75067

Contact Number: 214-945-0894

Web Address: https://www.teammercy.org/

Cost: None

Services Provided: TeamMercy.org  assists grieving families, specifically the siblings, through one of life’s most difficult tragedies, by providing funding for an existing activity for those siblings through Mercy’s Gift: a grant providing funding for an existing extra-curricular, academic, or mental health-related. The application can be accessed via their website.

The Warm Place

Location:  809 Lipscomb Street, Fort Worth, TX 76104

Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Contact Number:  817-870-2272

Web Address:  https://www.thewarmplace.org

Cost: None

Services Provided:

• Begin Attending the Group.
  1. Groups are tailored to support the loss of a parent (to include a step-parent), a sibling loss (biological or step-sibling), and grandparent loss (including extended family members, friends or any other significant loss.
  2. Groups are divided by age (K-3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-8th, and 9th-12th) and the type of death loss the child has experienced.
  3. Each night of the week is designated for a different type of loss: parent, brother/sister, and grandparent/friend/other family members.
  4. Guardians must attend with the children.
• Group Nights
  1. Regular ongoing groups meet every other week on either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
  2. On group nights, families gather for a pot-luck dinner and conversation, and then they break into small groups by age. Each group has its own volunteer facilitators who lead the discussion and direct age-appropriate activities designed to help participants express their emotions constructively.
     1. Art, creative writing, selected readings, games, and other activities are used to help children work through their emotions and allow for the expression of feelings.

• While children are meeting in their respective groups, the parents/guardians meet separately to learn how to manage their grief and how to help their children at the same time.

First Steps:

• The legal guardian of the child/children must contact The Warm Place to schedule an intake appointment. This call can be at any time after a child has experienced a death.
• Attend the Intake Appointment. The intake interview is during the day and lasts about 1.5 to 2 hours.  All family members, including the children and legal guardian(s), must be present at the intake.  Appointments are available M-F 9:00am, 11:00am, and 2:00pm.
  1. During this meeting, the family can share their death loss experience
  2. A tour of the facilities alleviates possible fears of coming to The Warm Place
  3. The intake is conducted by a counselor. Time will be spent with adults and children separately.
  4. The family will be assigned a group night based on who has passed in the child’s life.

Griefworks

Location:  2214 Hemphill St, Fort Worth, TX 76110

5440 Harvest Hill Rd #140, Dallas, TX 75230

Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Contact Number:  817-870-2272 or 972-960-9981

Website:  https://www.christian-works.org/grief/griefworks/

Cost: None

Purpose:  GriefWorks is a free grief support program for children ages 5-18 and their adult family members. At GriefWorks, they provide a safe and loving environment where children and teens can share their stories of loss and explore their grief openly in order to heal and progress.  GriefWorks groups do not provide grief counseling or therapy.  If additional help in the form of counseling or therapy is indicated for GriefWorks participants, the group members are referred to CounselingWorks where more in-depth, clinical help is provided in individual or family grief counseling at a discounted fee.

The goals of GriefWorks are:

• To normalize the grief process by allowing the grieving child to be with other children their age who have also experienced a loss.
• To provide grieving children a safe, supportive environment where they can be themselves to honestly express their grief feelings and experiences without being judged.

Services Provided:

• Twice a month meetings on Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:15 PM.
  1. This time includes a free home-cooked meal provided by GriefWorks Meal volunteers from 6:30-7 PM.
• On-going group format year-round where children and their families can enter or graduate the program as their needs dictate. Families are asked to commit to the program for at least 6 months to a year of attendance.
• Separate, specific age groups:
  1. Littles (ages 5-8)
  2. Middles (ages 9-12)
  3. Teens (ages 13-18) and
  4. Adults (ages 18 and older).
• Activities in each are age-appropriate activities which include play, games, drama, art writing, and other creative exercises which allow the child to express themselves honestly and relate to other grieving children.
• Curriculum professionally written and supervised where each week the grief support groups focus on a different topic relating to grief such as: Hope for the Future, What is Grief?, Anger, Finding Comfort, Helping Others, Helping Ourselves, Remembering and Honoring, Depression, Grief & the Holidays and much more…

First Steps:

• New families are required to attend an orientation before attending a group. This meeting will help to place you in a group that will help meet the needs of your family. It will also provide you and your family with the information needed to participate.
• If you are interested in signing your family up for GriefWorks children’s grief support groups, please fill out our contact form or call us at 972-960-9981.

LOSS Team Denton County (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors)

The LOSS Team aids those impacted by suicide

Hours: 24 hours/7 days a week

Website: Dentonmhmr.org/loss

Location: 2509 Scripture Denton, TX 76201

Phone: 940-205-6706

Cost: free

They offer immediate support and resources to individuals in Denton County impacted by suicide.

Members are volunteers who have been touched by suicide themselves and have received rigorous training.

University of North Texas Counseling and Human Development Center (CHDC)

Hours: Appointments available Monday-Thursday with evening hours available Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

Website: https://www.coe.unt.edu/counseling-and-human-development-center

Location: 425 S. Welch St. – Welch Street Complex 2 Denton, TX 76203

Phone: 940-565-2970

Cost: The CHDC is happy to provide services on a sliding fee scale.  This means our counselors will work with you to consider your annual income, number of individuals supported with the income, any special circumstances, and the number of family members who are seeking services at the CHDC. UNT students who are not attending counseling as part of a class project pay just $5/session.  The most any individual will ever pay for counseling is $50/session. They do not refuse services for inability to pay.

The CHDC offers low-cost individual counseling for adult and adolescent clients and plays or activity therapy for children ages three and older

Services offered:

1. Individual adult counseling – Counseling for personal or social concerns including relationships, depression, anxiety, grief, career, and life transitions.
2. Individual adolescent counseling – Activity and talk-based counseling for preteens and teenagers (ages 12-17) may focus on personal, social, career, and school concerns.
3. Couples counseling – Couples counseling helps couples to develop communication and relationship skills for managing concerns and adjustments common in committed relationships. Premarital/preunion counseling also available.
4. Play therapy – Play therapy is provided for children 3 years and older, and parent consultations with counselors are included in services. Play therapy is designed to help children through transitions, grief, separation, academic, and social concerns.

A Memory Grows

501 ©(3) charitable organization that serves as an outreach to grieving parents and as a resource to hospitals, clinics, hospice groups, churches, and other nonprofit organizations.

www.amemorygrows.org

Grace Counseling

Website: https://grace-counseling.com/

Location: Grace Counseling Center Lewisville, Texas 76210

Phone: 800-972-0643

Email: info@grace-counseling.com

Cost: They are In-Network with Most Major Insurances and have a sliding scale for those who choose not to use insurance.

Services provided:

With two locations across DFW, Lewisville, Texas, and Fort Worth, Texas, Grace Counseling Center provides full-service counseling to those in need of mental health support. Our carefully chosen team of clinicians provides mental health counseling to individuals, couples, and families in addition to facilitating group therapy sessions that utilize evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Here at Grace, our mental health providers offer counseling to children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area

Touched By Suicide

Website: Touchedbysuicide.net

Phone: 972-595-8124

Touched By Suicide is a 501(c)3 nonprofit local organization that provides free support groups for adults and teens that have lost a loved one to suicide. Our support groups meet in Denton, Lewisville and Flower Mound. Group members are encouraged to share their stories and feelings with the hope of helping each person heal through healthy communication in which all members learn from and support one another.

Service provided:

Support groups offer a comfortable setting where sharing and support is provided to anyone who has experienced the death of a family or friend by suicide. These groups are open to parents, spouses, siblings, and other relatives and friends. Support groups may not be for everyone or it may take a few meetings for the process to work for you, but they are a big step for many people in learning to deal with their pain.

Although these support groups generally meet at local churches, they are open to anyone 18 years or older of any faith or no faith.

Journey of Hope Grief Support Center

Website: https://johgriefsupport.org/grief-support-for-families/

Phone : (972) 964-1600

Service Provided:

Serving North Texas Families with Sites in Plano, Dallas, and Frisco, Journey provides peer grief support groups free of charge to children ages 4-18 and their adult caregivers twice a month.

In order to participate, a family calls the Journey office, completes intake paperwork, and sets an appointment with our program staff. The intake appointment helps the program team get to know the family and their grief journey and it provides the family an opportunity to become familiar with our groups. Groups are open-ended, so families can attend as long as they would like. Regular attendance is recommended and a minimum commitment of 8 meetings, but families may attend as long as they wish to process their grief.

We have group locations in Plano on Tuesday or Thursday, Frisco on Wednesday, and Highland Park on Wednesday. We begin groups with a dinner at 6:30 pm, prepared and served by community organizations. The groups meet from 7:00-8:10 pm.

.