Virtual Grief Therapy
6pm-8pm
The loss of a child - whether during pregnancy, at birth, or in early childhood is a heartbreak that no parent should have to face. Empty Arms has partnered with Evolve Counselling & Wellness to bring you this virtual support group series offering a safe, understanding space to connect with other parents who share this journey.
Led by a licensed therapist experiences in grief and loss, these monthly sessions provide gentle guidance, coping strategies, and a supportive community where your feelings are honoured and your child’s memory is respected. Together, we’ll explore ways to navigate grief, manage day-to-day challenges, and find moments of healing.
This group welcomes all loss parents, regardless of how long ago your loss occurred. Here, your story matters, your grief is valid, and you are not alone.
The following sessions are open for registration:
September 10th - Boundaries and Inviting Support
October 8th - Grief & How it impacts our Brain
October 22nd - Grieving Parents: Supporting your relationship through loss
November 12th - Parenting Through Loss
December 10th - Healthy Coping strategies for bereaved parents & caregivers
Full session details below.
Meet the Therapists
Select their photo to learn more.
Boundaries and Inviting Support In - September 10th
Lead by Lana McAleer, M. ED., Registered Psychologist
Feeling supported when experiencing grief can be complicated, as some people may overstep in their desire to help while others may be hesitant to reach out. This presentation will discuss how to navigate support from others through setting boundaries and inviting support in.
Setting Boundaries: One of the most useful ways to set boundaries is to communicate assertively, which includes using “I” statements, describe how another person’s behaviour makes you feel, and saying “no” when necessary.
Inviting Support In: Support can be invited in through a variety of ways, including stating one’s feelings, what one needs, and asking one whom you can trust.
Grief & How it Impacts our Brains - October 8th
Lead by Katarina Schmidt MSW, RSW
This presentation will explore how grief impacts our brains. We will explore physical, emotional and social impacts of grief and the brain. We will then explore how to help heal the brain after loss.
Understanding how our brains are impacted by grief will hopefully help provide comfort and normalcy to the evolutionary process that is grief. Grief experiences after the loss of a child can feel unbearable. Hopefully an understanding of how grief impacts the brain and options to support your brain will be a small step forward in your healing journey.
Grieving Parents: Supporting your relationship through loss - October 22nd
Lead by Terri Rask BSW, RSW
This presentation helps partners who have lost a child navigate their grief, understand each other’s unique grieving processes, and strengthen their relationship. Grief after losing a child is a profound, individual experience that can strain relationships if not addressed. Partners can learn how to process emotions and support each other by:
Recognizing Core Emotions: Grief involves primary emotions like sadness (a natural response to loss) and secondary emotions like guilt, anger, or shame, which may mask deeper feelings. Often we react with primary emotions, and can't identify the core emotion that is truly driving our grief.
Acknowledging Differences: Each parent grieves uniquely based on their personality, relationship with the child, and past experiences. One may feel intense sadness, while the other may express anger or withdraw. When we can hold safe space to understand how we process the loss differently, we can better understand our partner, and provide support more effectively.
Fostering Connection: When we can create ways for more vulnerable communication and meaningful understanding to occur, the relationship is strengthened. Connection happens by helping partners share emotions, validate differences, and understanding how to meet each other’s needs
The presentation emphasizes the process required to identify, express, and transform emotions to foster healing and connection. The intent is to plant seeds of hope that partners can lean into one another in new ways that will grow their relationship deeper and promote healing together.
Parenting through loss - November 12th
Lead by Meghan Balton, MSW, RSW
Losing a child is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences a parent can face, and navigating the depths of grief—whether alone or with a partner—can feel overwhelming and isolating. But when your journey of mourning expands to include supporting your children through their own grief, it can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. Children grieve in ways that are deeply personal and often different from adults—they hurt, they question, they sometimes retreat or act out, and every emotion is intense and real.
In this raw and compassionate session, we will open our hearts to understand how children typically respond when they lose a sibling—their fears, their confusion, their silent tears. We’ll explore how you, as parents and supports, can become guiding lights amid their darkness, helping to nurture their healing and understanding. We’ll discuss what might hinder their grief—misunderstandings, silence, or misplaced expectations—and how aligning your parenting with empathy and patience can become a sanctuary for your children’s tender hearts.
Grieving rituals—meaningful, heartfelt acts—can serve as powerful anchors, helping children express their love, honor their sibling’s memory, and find comfort in their shared emotions. Together, we can embrace these rituals as vital tools in their journey of healing, offering hope and a guiding hand through the darkest days, toward the possibility of peace and understanding.
Healthy Coping strategies for bereaved parents & caregivers - December 10th
Dalyce Mah, MSW, RSW
Perinatal loss can be one of the most profound and life-altering experiences a parent can face. Grief is a natural, individual process with no set timeline. While the pain cannot be erased, healthy coping strategies can provide support, reduce isolation, and promote long-term healing. This group focuses on holistic ways of coping to help parents move alongside grief in their daily life, with emphasis on both mind and body. Participants will learn gentle somatic techniques for regulating the nervous system, and explore meaningful ways of honoring their loss. We will explore flexible coping strategies including mindfulness, self check- ins, and inviting support from others when needed, that foster resilience and support long-term and support long term adjustment in the grieving process.