Your gift helps families find peace and comfort.
Bereavement Journal
Click HERE to view and download the "Navigating the water of your grief" Bereavement Journal.
Grief Books
Books can offer children a safe and accessible way to explore and understand their grief. When a child sees their experiences, thoughts, or feelings reflected in a story, it helps normalize their experiences and reduces the feelings of isolation that can often follow a loss. Stories provide language for complex emotions, model coping and connection, and create gentle openings for meaningful conversations between children and their caregivers.
Ages 0-4
Goodbye - A First Conversation About Grief
A board book that offers language and guidance for parents to introduce concepts related to grief to children. It gives words to help young children to understand big feelings related to grief and loss.
The Goodbye Book
Through simple language and illustrations, this book gives words to the different feelings we may have when experiencing grief. It normalizes grief as a personal and evolving process, showing to children that healing takes time.
Ages 5-8
Ida, Always
Based on a true story, this beautiful book follows two polar bears named Gus and Ida, as they navigate Ida's terminal illness. It gently portrays love, anticipatory grief, and the lasting impact of meaningful relationships.
When Dinosaurs Die
This book explains death using clear, age-appropriate language, touching on topics such as what death means, why it happens, and how we may feel when someone dies. It touches on common questions and misconceptions that children may have, and is a great resource for parents to learn strategies for explaining death to children.
ABCs of Grief
Using an alphabet format, this book introduces different emotions and experiences related to grief in an accessible way. It helps children build emotional vocabulary and understand that grief can take on many different forms.
What Does Grief Feel Like
This book explores many ways that grief can feel, along with different ways that we remember and feel connected to someone that has died. Throughout the book are many questions and prompts for parents and children to start conversation together about grief.
Ages 9-12
My Grief Comfort Book
This interactive workbook offers activities, reflections, and coping strategies to help children process their grief. This is a great resource for parents wanting to do creative grief-related activities with their kids at home, or for clinicians working with grieving children.
Shouting At The Rain
This novel follows a young girl navigating the ambiguous loss of her mother while dealing with complex emotions and family changes. Delsie is an “orphan” living with her grandmother in Cape Cod. She’s never known either of her parents and has lived with her grandparents her whole life. It highlights resilience, connection, and the healing power of supportive relationships.
Ages 13-17
A Monster Calls
This teen fiction story follows a boy visited by a mysterious monster as he struggles to cope with his mother's terminal illness. This book shares strong themes of anticipatory grief, anger, guilt, and acceptance.
Volunteer Visiting for Adults
This program offers compassionate companionship, respite for caregivers, and/or outings for up to four hours a week for adults living with a life limiting progressive illness. Support is provided through one-on-one volunteer visits with the individual.
What is Volunteer Visiting?
Our specially trained volunteers offer social and emotional support to individuals and families living with a progressive life-limiting illness in Greater Hamilton. A progressive life-limiting illness is one that affects a person's health and quality of life, gets worse over time, and can lead to death in the near future. Examples of this are (but not limited to) cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease, and cirrhosis of the liver.
Please note that volunteers do not provide medical or personal care and cannot be responsible for any life-saving monitoring.
If you are a caregiver or an individual who requires support for themselves, complete the interest form below and we will get in touch with you.
LOOKING TO VOLUNTEER?
Volunteering with Kemp Care Network is about more than giving your time; it is about making a difference in someone’s day.
Adult Day Wellness Program
Wherever you are in your palliative care journey, we have got something for you with our day programs—whether you need a moment of respite, connections with others for support or just to have a little bit of fun!
What Is Day Wellness Program?
Every Wednesday, our great room is filled with conversation, laughter, games, storytelling, and a three-course homemade meal. This is a space for you to be yourself in a caring and compassionate home-like setting. At Day Program you will find rest and relaxation, supportive relationships, therapeutic value, and even just plain fun!
The focus is on affirming life and living it to the fullest. Our program is coordinated and staffed by a palliative care specialist and supported by our trained hospice volunteer team. We look forward to meeting you!
Here’s a sample itinerary:
- 10am - 12pm: Games, art and conversations
- 12pm - 1pm: Homemade meal
- 1pm - 2pm: Therapeutic activities (storytelling, music, massage, etc.)
This program is community funded and available at no cost to individuals residing in Greater Hamilton who are living with a serious illness.
LOOKING TO VOLUNTEER?
Volunteering with Kemp Care Network is about more than giving your time; it is about making a difference in someone’s day.
3-Step Self-Paced ACP Workshop
Key Steps in Advance Care Planning
- Think about what matters most to you; your values and wishes and how they influence your health preferences, specific rituals around your end of life care.
- Learn about specific medical treatments, options of care, and future housing options that fit into your lifestyle in later years.
- Decide on who will speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself.
- Talk with others about your future health priorities and personal care.
- Record and share your wishes so others will be confident to make decisions on your behalf when you are not able to.
Instructions for this program
We recommend giving a week for each session, so you have sufficient time to think it over and have conversations with your friends and families.
- Download the session slides:
- Read & watch the resources mentioned on the slides and answer the reflection questions at your own pace.
At the end of the workshop, you’ll have peace of mind with your Advance Care Plan completed.
ACP information on this page is based on Advance Care Planning Canada, which can be found on https://www.advancecareplanning.ca/ and is created in collaboration with Sandra Andreychuk, Health Care Consultant/Ethicist (https://www.qualitylifeplanning.com/about-me).
Search
Find the services or information you’re looking for quickly by searching our site.