Assist children and families coping with serious illness and/or grief through support groups, crisis intervention, individual counseling and school based services.

Description:
Circle of Care assists children and families coping with a life-threatening illness, loss, bereavement, or trauma through support groups, crisis intervention services, home-based counseling, school-based counseling, and support services. Circle of Care is a program of the East Bay Agency for Children and has been serving residents of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties since 1982. Circle of Care is one of very few programs in the country devoted exclusively to the needs of children and their families who face these overwhelming family crises. Moderate fees are set on a sliding scale. No one is turned away because of inability to pay.

History:
Since Circle of Care was founded in 1982, volunteers have been a key part of the organization. Currently, there are over 50 volunteers providing over 2,500 hours of their time every year to Circle of Care's programs. Circle of Care has only 5 paid staff persons - the bulk of our support group work by volunteer facilitators.

The energy and enthusiasm of our Volunteers is the backbone of our Support Group Program. Volunteers work as Support Group Facilitators in our groups for families facing illness and loss. The role of facilitators is to help the group participants process their experiences. Facilitators work together in teams to create activities that will give children and teens the opportunity to talk about feelings and life experiences. Facilitators work in our support groups specifically for adults, teens, children and toddlers. Volunteers work as a team, creating an atmosphere where families feel safe to talk about feelings of anger, fear, frustration and sadness.

Contact people:

Alinya Charron, Program Director, (phone), (email) Jess Feury, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (510) 531-3657

Address:

2540 Charleston Street Oakland, CA 94602 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.ebac.org

Directions:

Directions: DO NOT USE MAPQUEST – you will get lost!! From Highway 580 – coming from the south (Hayward): Exit at Fruitvale/Coolidge Avenue. Go straight, paralleling the freeway (up and down some hills). At a stop sign, turn. . . (more)