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Starting a Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is a rewarding experience and a labor of love.

Form a Chapter

You’ve gone through perhaps the most difficult time of your life—the death of a child from your family whether a son/daughter, sister/brother, or grandson/granddaughter. It is possible you found support through a Chapter of The Compassionate Friends where others who had experienced a similar loss but were, perhaps, further along in their grief helped you survive a time you thought unsurvivable.

You may have continued with the chapter in some role in chapter leadership, gaining strength, helping others. Yet you also see the need for a Chapter in another location—perhaps closer to where you live.

Starting a Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is a wonderful way to honor the memory of the child(ren) who led you to TCF meetings and the friendships that you and others have shared as you’ve traveled a very difficult road.

Or it is possible you may have heard of The Compassionate Friends and feel there is a need for a Chapter in your area.

Starting a Chapter of The Compassionate Friends is a rewarding experience and a labor of love—one in which TCF’s national organization is ready to walk with you every step of the way.

Form a Chapter Request

You must be at least 18 months from your grief and be a bereaved parent, adult sibling, or grandparent. We encourage co-leaders to share the work, but many chapters have been started by a single leader. Besides yourself, you will need 2-3 others who are also dealing with the death of a child and are committed to helping the chapter as a core group.

The location where you wish to become established must generally be at least a 30 minute drive from the nearest TCF Chapter.

There is a start-up fee of $150 to cover TCF National Office costs of helping you to get started and provide resources for the chapter. Reach out to your community especially funeral homes, churches, and local businesses as they will often help.

The first thing to do is to contact The Compassionate Friends and request a start-up packet which will explain the entire procedure and give you the paperwork you need to be on your way to establishing a successful chapter.

Absolutely! We’ll work with you every step of the way to help you through the steps necessary to be chartered, and help you to understand what a chapter must do to be successful, grow, and help the many who so desperately are seeking support through the toughest time of their lives.

Yes, training is available on our Volunteer Leadership website providing over 25 different training videos. Additional training workshops are offered on the Thursday prior to the National Conference of The Compassionate Friends.

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