Journey Program (Bereavement Program for Child Loss)

• The Journey Program is for any family who has experienced the death of a child, whether at Seattle Children’s or in the community.
• We provide pediatric grief support for children under age 18 who have experienced the loss of a parent/caregiver or sibling.
• We also provide support to help families cope with death, loss and the grieving process.
• Services are open to families whose child died at Seattle Children’s as well as families whose children died elsewhere in the community.
• We offer individual, couples, family and child grief support to residents of Washington state.

We are not able to provide mental health services. We provide grief support and companioning.

"I didn't even know what I needed when our child first died, and Journey was a place I could come and talk and others just understood."

– Parent

Services We Offer

• Culturally responsive grief and bereavement support
• Pediatric grief support with a bereavement clinician
• Pediatric grief workshops
• Individual, couple and family support
• Annual memorial service for families who are coping with the loss of a child
• Support groups for adults that are facilitated by trained and caring staff and volunteers
• Lending library for Journey families to access books on grief and bereavement for kids through adults
• Recommendations on reading materials and referrals to other grief and bereavement community resources
• Grief support to schools, businesses and communities experiencing loss
• Bereavement education and training for the community
• Events to support connections and community for bereaved families
• Maintain the patient memorial book that is located in the hospital chapel on the 7th floor

Families are welcome to visit the chapel to see their child's name in the memorial book, or Journey Program staff are happy to take a photo of your child’s name in the memorial book and send it to you.

If planning to visit, families will need to register at the hospital main entrance. Please bring a photo ID to aid in this process.

If you would like to know if your child’s name is in the memorial book, please contact the Journey Program.

We host quarterly community building events for grieving families. If you would like more information on these events, please contact the Journey Program.

Resources

• Grief: Taking Care of Yourself(PDF)
• Reactions to Grief(PDF)
• Children's Grief: Talking to Your Child About Death(PDF)
• Healing as a Single Parent(PDF)
• Healing as a Couple(PDF)
• Grandparent Grief(PDF)
• The Compassionate Friends
• Northwest Infant Survival and SIDS Alliance
• Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood | SUDC Foundation
• Parent Support of Puget Sound
• Providence Hospice: Grief Support
• Centering Corporation and Grief Digest Magazine  
• Safe Crossings Foundation
• The Healing Center
• Eluna Network
• Grievers Library

Books

Here are some books families find helpful and a link to additional books for grief support (link to Google Drive of inventory). If you would like a book mailed to you, please reach out to the Journey Program.

• Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, Joanne Cacciotore
• How to Help Children Through a Parent’s Serious Illness, Kathleen McCue
• Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child, Earl A. Grollman
• How Do We Tell the Children?, Dan Schaeffer and Christine Lyons
• When Someone Very Special Dies, Marge Heegaard
• What Does That Mean?, Harold Ivan Smith and Joy Johnson
• Lifetimes, Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

Support Groups

The Journey Program offers a free, hybrid drop-in grief support group for parents who have experienced the death of a child. The group meets monthly from September through June. Contact the Journey Program if you are interested in learning more.

The Journey Program is re-developing free age-specific closed support groups. If you are interested in being contacted when a group is available, please contact the Journey Program.

Parent Suport (PS), hosted at Seattle Children's, is a parent volunteer led organization that provides support groups for those who have experienced a loss from miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss. P.S. groups are led by parent volunteers who have experienced childhood loss. Visit the PS website for current meeting dates, times and locations throughout Puget Sound, including an in-person option at Seattle Children's.

Hosted groups are organized and facilitated by volunteer family leaders or community organizations.

Spiritual Care

Chaplains are available 24 hours a day to provide respectful spiritual care and emotional support to patients, families, faculty and staff. Learn more about Spiritual Care at Seattle Children's.

Meet the Team

Journey Program staff and clinicians are available during standard business hours, with clinician schedules varying throughout the week. Our goal is to return your call or email within 3 business days. We do not maintain a waitlist for support services.

For support and resources, contact the Journey Program.

Arika Patneaude, MSW, LICSW, APHSW

Program Director

April Endsley, MA

Program Coordinator II

Brenda Aguilar, MSW, LICSW

Clinical Bereavement Specialist, Regional

Calia Lockey, BA

Grief Coordinator

Evalynn Romano, MSW, LSWAIC

Bereavement Clinician

Jill Wilson, MSW, LICSW

Senior Bereavement Clinician

Kari Hilwig, MSW, LICSW

Bereavement Clinician

Marquita Straus, MSW, LSWAIC

Bereavement Clinician

Teresa Barnes, MSW, LICSW

Bereavement Clinician

The Journey Program is sponsored in part by the Safe Crossings Foundation and Hasbro Foundation, along with individual and community donations.

Contact Us

Contact the Journey Program directly at 206-987-2062 or journey.program@seattlechildrens.org. See more contact information.