Bereavement Services

Professional bereavement care is available to ALL members of the community. Services are free of charge to our Duke Hospice families, and by donation to all others. Our staff consists of two hospice grief counselors as well as a certified trauma specialist and a counselor who specializes in children and teen grief. Volunteers who have been specifically trained in facilitating bereavement support groups complement the expertise of our professional staff.

 

The heart of the bereavement program is the Unicorn Bereavement Center, located in an historic home on 11 acres of beautiful farmland in Hillsborough. The bereavement program provides this natural setting as a way to affirm that grief is a normal and healthy process. However, the bereavement program extends its services into many community settings such as schools, workplaces, senior centers, and places of worship.

 

Duke Community Bereavement Services provides a wide range of services for all ages: short-term individual grief counseling (pet loss included), support groups and grief workshops, and a bi-annual Service of Remembrance. Our comprehensive program for children and teens includes Camp ReLEAF, an overnight bereavement camp for grades K-8. We also provide crisis intervention services to individuals and organizations when a sudden or traumatic death occurs. DCBS is a community resource for grief education, offering community presentations, professional training, referrals and networking with community resources, and a lending library for our clients. A Spanish-language counselor is available by special arrangement.

 

The bereavement program operates primarily on funds from contributions, memorials, and grants. Your support is deeply appreciated and enables us to offer this essential and generous community outreach.

 

 

 

 

We gratefully acknowledge the following funeral homes for their generous contributions to our support group program: