Kara services are provided primarily by volunteers who have experience in healing from personal loss. They are trained to accompany others on their journey through a life-threatening illness and/or bereavement. There is no charge for Kara's services, and donations are gratefully accepted. Kara espouses no particular philosophical or religious orientation.

To request any of Kara's services below,
please call (650-321-5272) or use this Contact Form.

An initial interview is scheduled to assess the client's need and determine appropriate service. Professional referrals are welcome. Please see our Adult Referral Guideline.

Here are two videos that feature Kara, its services and clients:

• Video 1: An overview of Kara's services (PC, Mac)
• Video 2: Three clients share about their loss and experience with Kara (PC, Mac)

Individual Peer Counseling

Individual peer counseling for adults who are experiencing the normal process of grieving or anticipating a death. Trained volunteer peer counselors provide individual emotional support. A trained volunteer counselor is carefully matched with each person seeking assistance, or a referral is made if the client needs more extensive professional assistance. The counselor is committed to a sustained relationship with clients while they need emotional support, usually meeting weekly at a mutually agreed-upon place and time.

Our volunteer counselors are carefully prepared and screened. They undergo an initial intensive 25-hour training program, as well as weekly training/support sessions with Kara staff professionals. We offer our counseling services in our Palo Alto offices, private homes, hospitals or residential facilities in the San Francisco Mid-Peninsula area.

Grief Support Groups

Ongoing (twice-monthly) grief support groups for children, teenagers and adults who have experienced the death of a loved one. Group participants share their experience and learn from the experience of others. An initial interview is scheduled to assess the client's need and determine appropriate service. A variety of groups are available, based on age and type of loss. Click here for a detailed list of current groups.

Adult groups are lead by two trained volunteer facilitators. These groups provide a safe place for participants to share their experience and learn from the experience of others. All information is kept strictly confidential within the group.

Groups for children ages 5-12 who have experienced the death of a loved one are available with a concurrent support group for the accompanying parent(s). These groups meet twice a month and are arranged so that children with similar types of losses are together (i.e., violent death, death due to illness, death of siblings or friends). Kara provides children with an emotionally safe place to express and work through difficult feelings through specially facilitated sharing circles, activities and play. This minimizes young peoples' sense of isolation and facilitates the healing process after a traumatic loss.

Kara also holds consultations for parents of preschoolers aged 1-5 who have experienced the loss of a loved one.

For ages 13-17, Kara offers a separate Teen Program, also facilitated, where young adults can process their grief with others their age who understand. This group also meets in the evenings, twice a month.

On-Site Grief Crisis Intervention

This Kara program focuses specifically on providing on-site services to schools, corporations and other organizations that are experiencing normal grief responses. This may be due to unexpected death, anticipated loss, or death or terminal diagnosis of one of their members.

Annual Grief Support Conferences

Kara and the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospice co-sponsor an annual conference which features nationally respected expert speakers as well as local authorities on the subject of grief counseling. Approximately 200 professionals and lay persons from all over California attend this conference each year.

Candlelight Service

Each year Kara invites the community to join together to remember loved ones who have died. At this beautiful interfaith service ceremony, we honor the lives of deceased family and friends. The service is held on the first Thursday in December at Unity Palo Alto Community Church, 3391 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto.

Grief Support Training

Kara offers intensive 25-hour training programs which prepare volunteers to support people through the grief process. Kara provides an integrated training program for new volunteers twice a year, typically in April and October. The training is free for those who become Kara individual counselors or group facilitators. A fee is charged for those who wish to use the training for their own purposes. Kara can also provide custom training for groups on a negotiated fee basis. Programs address such topics as personal death awareness, coping with an unexpected loss and how to talk with children about death. For information about becoming a Kara volunteer click HERE.

Information and Referral

Kara provides information to individuals and agencies on grief-related services, helping people who are looking for bereavement support groups, cancer support groups, professional therapy and/or hospice care.

Community Education

Kara's staff and volunteers are available to offer presentations, workshops and facilitated discussions specially designed to meet the needs of a school, corporation, club, church, or other community organization.

Contact Us

457 Kingsley Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-321-5272

Office hours are M-F, 9AM to 4PM Pacific time.
Here is a map to our office.

Kara is the Gothic root of the word "care."
It means to reach out, to care, to lament, to grieve with.