Teen & Young Adult Support Groups
Peer support groups offer a safe space for grieving young adults to share their grief, give and receive support, find tools to cope with their unimaginable loss, and find validation through the shared experience with others. Grieving young adults are not alone and oftentimes, the best support can come from those who can relate and understand the depths of your grief.
In this group, members will explore the impact of grief in their life, have the unique opportunity to embrace hope, enhance self-esteem, and find connections with other teens and young adults on a similar journey. Our goal is to help each person increase their understanding of grief and promote healing while developing healthy coping methods.
Participating in a group offers the opportunity to:
- Receive emotional support in a safe and non-judgmental environment
- Begin and continue the healing process by sharing your own story and hearing the stories of others
- Learn coping skills to help you through the difficult moments in your grief journey.
- Discover new ways or traditions to maintain continuing bonds with your loved one by keeping them present in your heart and connected in your memories.
- Increase your understanding of how other family members might react to loss.
- Permission to grieve and permission to live.
COPE Bereaved Teen/Young Adult Support Group
In order to maintain group numbers that will allow for the best opportunity for participants to connect and share, we cannot guarantee available space in every group at all times, but we will work with you to find the best fit for your needs.
Who Can Join
The COPE Bereaved Teen/Young Adult Support Group is open to teens and young adults ages 17-22 in New York City and Long Island and welcomes all backgrounds and grieving any significant relationship and all manners of loss. New members join on an ongoing basis and there are options for those at all points in their grief journey. There is no timeline to enter the group and as your grief does not end, neither does our support.
Intake Process
All prospective group participants must first fill out our intake form and complete an intake phone call with our Clinical and Program Director Claire Sharkey, LCSW to determine readiness for the group before being connected with the group facilitator and attending a group.
The COPE Bereaved Teen/Young Adult Support Group is free to attend and like all of COPE’s programs is sustained through the generosity of our participants.
Current Teen/Young Adult Support Group members can check the calendar for upcoming groups.
Sid Jacobson JCC HERO Project facilitated by COPE
COPE is pleased to facilitate The Hero Project, hosted by the Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center. The HERO Project was created as a safe space for middle and high school students who have lost a parent, sibling, grandparent, or friend, to feel empowered while connecting with other grieving peers.
HERO Project offers grief activities to help teens:
HONOR their heroes
EMPATHIZE with others
REMEMBER special times shared
Live ONWARD for their heroes
For upcoming meetings, visit sjjcc.org/heroproject
For more information, Contact:
Michelle Gibson, LMSW
Director
516.484.1545 Ext. 171
MGibson@sjjcc.org
