Newsroom

What’s Happening at BFO-MR

It is hard to believe that it’s been eight weeks since the team at BFO-MR started working from home. It has been two months (!) since we transitioned our support groups to a virtual format so we can continue to provide a space for people to connect, grieve and share.

I am so incredibly proud of the team here at BFO-MR and what they made possible in such a short period of time.

In just over a week, our Living with Loss mixed-loss support group went virtual and we began offering it weekly to create more opportunities for the community to access support. Our programs for parents grieving the death of an infant and parents grieving the death of a child are well underway with the child loss group wrapping up on May 21. On May 19, we will begin offering our Living with Loss group for adults grieving a death by substance use virtually as well.

A tremendous amount of work went on behind the scenes to get where we are today. From reworking program manuals and developing new policies for the virtual space to working with our facilitators, our Program Coordinator Carly has truly been a superstar in ensuring we could continue to support our community.

Our Outreach Coordinator Melina has been on the phone personally checking in with our members and making sure we can continue to educate our community about grief. It’s been amazing to have an opportunity to hear directly from our community about what they are feeling and experiencing.

We are so grateful to our volunteer facilitators who have been with us every step of the way as we navigate this new territory. We thank our Professional Advisory Committee who recognize the need for flexibility right now and who have been supportive in every way.

Events and fundraisers have been a little more challenging, but our team continues to explore what our memorial events will look like in the fall. Plans B, C (and sometimes D!) are in the works to ensure that we can still create opportunities to honour our loved ones.

At BFO-MR, our mission is to provide an empathetic community of support and education for individuals and families who are grieving. During this time, what we traditionally think of as a “community of support” is evolving but our top priority continues to be ensuring people feel supported and connected.

Thank YOU for your continued support and confidence as we’ve been navigating the last couple of months.

Stay safe,

Jaime Bickerton, Executive Director