Bereavement support

The loss of a child is devastating. Nothing can prepare you or your family and knowing where to find help is important.

The Children's Health Queensland Bereavement Service offers compassionate and culturally safe care for you and your family after the loss of your child. We can also support your extended family, friends, schools and your community.

A referral isn't required to access bereavement support. If your child was a patient at Queensland Children's Hospital or through a service connected to the hospital, we can support you.

Connecting with other families

We can help you connect with other families who have experienced the loss of a child through some of our program. Dealing with this type of loss is different for everyone, and sometimes the best support can come from other parents.

CHQ Peer Mentor Program

The Peer Mentor Program is a statewide service that provides newly bereaved parents and carers the opportunity to connect with another parent / mentor with bereavement understanding, experience and the capability to offer compassionate guidance. Read more.

Facebook group

We run a closed Facebook group for bereaved families. This is a safe place where you can support each other and share information and resources.

Your stories

Read stories from other parents who have lost a child, how they've managed their grief and continue to celebrate their children's lives.

Supporting children and young people

We host a Good Grief, This Hurts webinar every year to help adults support children and young people who have lost an important person in their life.

2024 webinar

We look at supporting young people grieving the death of a special adult.

2023 webinar

We look at young people preparing for grief and loss.

2022 webinar

We look at different ways to support children and young people through grief and loss.

Annual remembrance ceremony

We hold a remembrance ceremony at our hospital each year for families to honour and remember the children who have died, and who were known to Children's Health Queensland.

The program includes family members sharing their experiences and memories of their child and how they are coping with their grief. We have a candle lighting ceremony, choral music, and a slideshow for each child we are remembering.

If you are unable to join us, you can still provide us with a photo of your child to include in the slideshow. We understand it can be emotionally difficult and may take some time for families to feel able to attend the Remembrance Ceremony.

Going to a ceremony

We aim to hold the ceremony early November and send invitations to families in September.

If you or your family would like to attend the Remembrance Ceremony, please email CHQ_RC@health.qld.gov.au. You can also call us on 1800 080 316 and talk to one of our Bereavement Coordinators if you have any queries.

Living Forward newsletter

We produce a quarterly newsletter that provides information about coping with grief and bereavement, family stories, and our latest news and events.

If you would like to subscribe to the e-newsletter, please email CHQ_bereavement@health.qld.gov.au.  Similarly, email this address if you have a story you’d like to share in the newsletter.

Newsletters

Autumn 2024
Winter 2024
Autumn 2023
Summer 2022

Consumer Advisory Group

A group of bereaved parents make up our Consumer Advisory Group and play an important role of integrating the voice of bereaved family members in all aspects of the bereavement service design, development and delivery.  If you are interested in knowing more please contact us as per above details.

Resources for compassionate communities

The Bereavement podcast series was created for Dying to Know Day 2023 & 2024 to support practice around having compassionate conversations with families through end of life and bereavement care. We hear from health professionals, community clinicians and bereaved parents who share their experiences. Listen to the series on Soundcloud.