The Compassionate Friends is about transforming the pain of grief into the elixir of hope. It takes people out of the isolation society imposes on the bereaved and lets them express their grief naturally. With the shedding of tears, healing comes. And the newly bereaved get to see people who have survived and are learning to live and love again. – Simon Stephens, founder of The Compassionate Friends
The Compassionate Friends is an international self-help support organisation for bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents grieving the loss of a child. We offer friendship and understanding by reaching out to bereaved parents, to the surviving siblings and other family members to support them in the grief and trauma which follows the death of a child, through a range of support services and resources.
Bereaved parents and family members often find the need to talk to someone who has had an experience similar to their own and who truly understand. This allows many to draw comfort from the stories of other parents who have been there and learn from their accounts. All bereaved family members are welcome. The Compassionate Friends is non-denominational, it has no religious affiliation. While the founder is a clergyman, and some Chapters meet in donated church facilities, no religious creed or affiliation is involved.
The Compassionate Friends Queensland is based in Brisbane, with many support groups and contacts across regional Queensland all willing to help. You will find the support of parents and families who really understand and care. See our Locate Support page to find your closest support group or contact. We are here for you for as long as you need us.
We invite you to walk with us.
Our objectives
The objectives of The Compassionate Friends are:
- To offer support and friendship to any sorrowing parent.
- To listen with understanding and provide ‘telephone friends’ who may be called at any time.
- To provide sharing groups…day and evening groups that meet monthly or more often.
- To give cognitive information about the grieving process through our programs, newsletters, literature,
talks, tapes, library. - To provide acquaintance with bereaved parents whose sorrow has softened and who have found fresh
Our principles & mission
The Compassionate Friends is established upon seven principles:
- TCF offers friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents.
- TCF believes that bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents can help each other toward a positive
resolution of grief. - TCF reaches out across society’s barriers to all bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents.
- TCF understands that every member has individual needs and rights.
- TCF reaches out to the bereaved primarily through our community of local chapters.
- TCF chapters belong to their members.
- TCF chapters are coordinated nationally to extend help to each other, and to bereaved parents,
siblings, and grandparents everywhere.
The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age and to provide information to help others be supportive.
How we can help?
At “The Compassionate Friends”, you will find a special understanding of those who have “been there”. There are no pressures to talk or not talk, to cry or not cry, just a chance to be yourself, to have a time-out and find out how others are coping and surviving after the loss of their child.
The Compassionate Friends offers a safe haven, a listening and understanding ear, a place where you can let down the masks, and if you wish, talk about your son or daughter who has died. The Compassionate Friends offers no miracle cure, just comfort and the consolation and hope that broken threads can be picked up again.
There are no time limits to grief. Many families contact TCF very early in their grief, others don’t hear about us for many years. If the need to talk is there, Compassionate Friends will listen.
See our services page to find out more about the support services and resources we offer.
Remember, if you are grieving the loss of a child, grandchild, brother or sister and need support and information, please call, email, or contact us via the information on our contact us page.
Our credo
We need not walk alone. We are The Compassionate Friends. We reach out to each other with love, with understanding and with hope. Our children have died at all ages and from many different causes, but our love for our children unites us. Your pain becomes my pain, just as your hope becomes my hope. We come together from all walks of life, from many different circumstances. We are a unique family because we represent many races and creeds. We are young and we are old. Some of us are far along in our grief, but others still feel a grief so fresh and so intensely painful that we feel helpless and see no hope. Some of us have found our faith to be a source of strength; some of us are struggling to find answers. Some of us are angry, filled with guilt or in deep depression; others radiate an inner peace. But whatever pain we bring to this gathering of The Compassionate Friends, it is pain we will share just as we share with each other our love for our children. We are all seeking and struggling to build a future for ourselves, but we are committed to building that future together as we reach out to each other in love and share the pain as well as the joy, share the anger as well as the peace, share the faith as well as the doubts and help each other to grieve as well as to grow. We need not walk alone. We are The Compassionate Friends.
Our siblings credo
We are the surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends. We are brought together by the deaths of our brothers and sisters. Open your hearts to us, but have patience with us. Sometimes we will need the support of our friends. At other times we need our families to be there. Sometimes we must walk alone, taking our memories with us, continuing to become the individuals we want to be. We cannot be our dead brother or sister; however, a special part of them lives on with us. When our brothers and sisters died, our lives changed. We are living a life very different from what we envisioned, and we feel the responsibility to be strong even when we feel weak. Yet we can go on because we understand better than many others the value of family and the precious gift of life. Our goal is not to be the forgotten mourners that we sometimes are, but to walk together to face our tomorrows as surviving siblings of The Compassionate Friends.
Membership
Membership of The Compassionate Friends is open to parents and families who have experienced the death of a child. See our Membership page for further details.
Donations – We need your help
The Compassionate Friends supports and cares for thousands of people worldwide each year following the death of a child. Ultimately we wish we could prevent death from occurring… then we would still have our beloved children with us, but sadly we can’t. Please help to support our organisation so we may continue to care and support the many families who face the most devastating loss of all…… the loss of a child.
Help us make a difference and make a donation…
Thank you very much for all donations made to TCF. They are very greatly appreciated!!! Donations of $2 and over are tax-deductible.
