RAINBOWS...

• Educates and builds public awareness about the growing number of children suffering significant loss issues in their lives.
• Believes that grieving children, youth, and even adults deserve supporting, loving listeners as they struggle with their feelings.
• Provides accredited training for all volunteers to prepare them for the commitment of assisting bereaved children, youth, and adults.
• Supports our volunteers and sites to sustain quality delivery of services to children, youth, and adults.
• Offers high quality programs offered at no cost to the children.
• Is available to children, youth, and adults of all races and religions.

RAINBOWS History
More than 50% of children in Canada live in "non-traditional" families coping with some type of loss. Each year RAINBOWS provides training and curricula for volunteers in Alberta offering grief support services. Since RAINBOWS’ inception, over 1000 children and their families in Alberta have benefited. Youth and their families receive this service in schools, churches, synagogues, and social service agencies regardless of age or religious affiliation.

• International outreach, with more than a 20 year track record of providing grief support services and curricula
• Cost-effective, volunteer-driven delivery with no annual fee to providers and no cost to youth participants.
• Endorsed by educational and religious organizations, as well as many of the "helping" professions.
• Rainbows backs all of its volunteers with liability insurance covering training and curricula delivery.
• Quality control through site management and curriculum evaluation.
• Service includes extensive training, a toll free phone number and local site support
• Curriculum tailored to age and loss circumstances.

Rainbows is peer-support for pre-school through grade eight. It is easily implemented in a setting where children already gather in surroundings that are familiar and comfortable (Religious and Secular Editions).

Spectrum is a peer support curriculum specifically developed for adolescents. (Religous and Secular editions).

Kaleidoscope is a peer support curriculum designed for college age and adults who grew up in single-parent and stepfamilies and who may still have unresolved feelings of grief to work through.

RAINBOWS is a not-for-profit, international organization with charitable status in Canada that offers training and curricula for establishing peer support groups for children, youth and adults grieving a death, separation, divorce or other painful loss in their family.

When a change takes place in the family, whether it is death, divorce, separation or abandonment, it has a profound effect on all members in a family. Grieving is a natural process which evolves from an emotional loss. If it isn't facilitated at the appropriate time, it may be repressed or become chronic. When grief does not have an opportunity to be resolved, its impact can be destructive.

The national office for RAINBOWS in Canada is located in Barrie, Ontario:

80 Bradford St. Suite 514, Barrie, ON Canada L4N 6S7
Tel: (705) 726-7407 or (877) 403-2733 | Fax: (705) 726-5805
E-mail: info@rainbows.ca