Home Hospice Association
North Chapter
Our mission is to ensure that anyone facing death and their loved ones have equitable access to quality end-of-life care and support. By working with our agency partners and volunteers in the North, we’re able to mobilize hospice palliative care cost effectively and expediently, continuously drawing the circle of care wider.
With a focus on dignity, compassion, and culturally sensitive human connection, Home Hospice Association empowers communities to help people die wherever they call home.
North Chapter Directors, Officers & Local Leadership
We meet the 1st Tuesday of every month.
If you’re passionate about wanting to provide equitable access to quality end-of-life care in our community and would like to join our Chapter Board or Become a Chapter Board Member, we’d love to hear from you! Email volunteer@homehospiceassociation.org and we’ll follow up with you.
It Takes a Village: Thank you to our Chapter Partners!
If your agency or organization serves clients or patients nearing the end of life, we can help you make care for these people and their loved ones even more accessible and holistic. Visit our community partnerships page to learn how we work with our agency partners to increase access to compassionate end-of-life care across Canada.
Be part of our future and partner with our Chapter today!
Follow us on Facebook to find out about all the great things happening in our Chapter!
How We Help
Our Babies, Our Grief
Through HHA’s Our Babies, Our Grief progressive healing group model, our trained Chapter leaders support those who have experienced Pregnancy and Infant Loss - whether the loss occurred days ago or decades ago.
Our Chapter's Julie-Anne Muano is offering Our Babies, Our Grief in-person (dates and locations coming soon). Julie-Anne is also the creator of this program, and our thanks go out to Hospice Oriella, one of our first hospice partners.
Our Babies, Our Grief is also being offered online as a six-week progressive healing group and monthly virtual drop-in.
Metis Nation of Ontario
Home Hospice Association has partnered with the MNO to support the development of end-of-life education, services and support systems for its citizens. From the customization of our Compassionate Caregiving online training to the mobilization of Death Doulas, we’re committed to meeting the cultural, social and spiritual needs of the MNO in collaboration with their existing staff and front-line workers. We began working with the MNO in March with a three-day Compassionate Caregiving and Death Awareness Workshop at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Toronto (see photos here!), and will continue to work with their 37 communities to develop and implement care for their members facing death and those who love and care for them.
Death Doula Mentorship
Given that the Death Doula community is such a vital part of how we can effectively mobilize compassionate end-of-life care, supporting the on-going mentorship and training of HHA Death Doulas and Candidates in the North is one of our Chapter’s key priorities. If you are an HHA Death or Infant & Pregnancy Loss Doula / Candidate be sure to check out our Doula Social & Training Calendar of events.
If you're interested in Becoming a Death Doula or Infant & Pregnancy Loss Doula, check out our Certificate Programs and upcoming training dates.
Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Training
A chance meeting of old friends Glen Burkholder and Sue Balaz back in 2016 started the journey of one of our most unique programs: Pre and Perinatal Hospice. Both Glen and Sue were incredibly passionate about helping those who have suffered the loss of an infant or pregnancy, resulting in Canada's first Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Training.
Today we have certified professionals all across Canada who, thanks to our Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Certificate Program, are able to support individuals and families who are grieving these terrible losses.
If you’re interested in becoming an Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Professional, check out our training program and register for an upcoming session today!
Death Education
Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Scholarship Program
Are you interested in training in Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support with HHA? We offer scholarships to Certificate Program candidates who are committed to building the Pre and Perinatal Hospice Program in our community.
Awarded scholarships cover the full tuition costs of the Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support Certificate Program. Successful applicants will gain access to the skills, knowledge and perspectives needed to support, encourage and empower grieving individuals and their families.
Learn more about our Eric Elliott Memorial Scholarship Program here.
Online Death Cafes
At HHA, we strive to normalize death and talking about dying, death and grief, because a culture that silences these conversations and tries to ignore the reality that we’ll all die one day inevitably creates societies where people can’t get the support they need when they or a loved one is facing death.
We offer online general and community-specific (e.g. Caregivers, BIPOC, Parents & Guardians, 2SLGBTQ+, etc.) Death Cafés so that people can meet to explore their relationships with dying, death and grief. As we grapple with what life looks like today, having a safe and non-judgmental space to talk about difficult subjects is so important and can have a significant impact both on how we live and how we die.
Professional Caregiver Community
Our Chapter supports the professional caregiver community in the North - the "Forgotten Responders" who take over from where First Responders leave off. For example, through education and support, such as our “When Labour Leads to Loss” workshop, we train funeral professionals how to care for those who have experienced pregnancy of infant loss.
Fundraising
Moonlit Memory Walk
HHA’s annual Moonlit Memory Walk fundraiser helps us raise awareness for the amazing work we’re doing in our Chapter. Plus, the funds collected from this event stay in our community, helping to improve compassionate end-of-life care and support here in the North!
We hope to see you there! And if you're interested in helping to plan this event in your community or volunteering on-site during the event, check out our Moonlit Memory Walk volunteer opportunities.
Eric Elliott Memorial Scholarship Fund
1 in 4 people experiences pregnancy loss every year in Canada. Many of these people suffer their loss without partner- or family support. While the need is great for the kind of on-going support that Infant and Pregnancy Loss Support Professionals are uniquely trained to provide, there are still not enough comprehensively trained individuals in our community available to provide these services.
We need your help to ensure that anyone who is committed to doing this work in our community is trained and equipped to do so. If you can, please donate to our Infant & Pregnancy Loss Support training scholarship and help us prepare and empower more people to fulfill this important role.
All donations are tax deductible.
Get Involved
Compassionate Companioning Volunteers
We continue to be committed to ensuring that we have a growing and vibrant community of compassionate caregivers to support the front-line care work needed across our Chapter. Having enough volunteers also allows us to establish new programs in our Chapter and support even more members of our communities.
If you’re interested in becoming a Compassionate Companion in the North, please reach out to us about taking our Compassionate Companioning Online Training.
Prison Hospice Pilot Project Volunteers
We're looking for dedicated individuals who believe that we all deserve dignity and compassion at the end of our lives to help us with our new Prison Hospice Pilot Project. The goal of this project is to build and mobilize a complete care offering that addresses the dying, death and grief needs of the incarcerated population, those paroled, and those who love and/or care for them.
We’re specifically looking for people who have experience in one or more of the following areas:
Project management and Team engagement
Social work or Social services work
End-of-life care, Death Doulas
Marketing and/or Fundraising
Experience working with the prison population and/or their families
If you’re interested in joining our Project Working Team, please fill out our Volunteer Application and specify “Prison Hospice Pilot” on the form.
