If you need someone now
You don't have to wait until morning.
If grief turns toward something heavier, for you or for someone you love, these lines are open, day and night.
- SADAG, South African Depression and Anxiety Group 0800 567 567
A free crisis line offering immediate emotional support, day and night.
- Lifeline South Africa 0861 322 322
Trained counsellors available around the clock for anyone who needs a steady voice on the other end of the line.
A trained ear
Professional counselling & therapy
When grief asks for a longer, steadier conversation, a place to return to, week after week.
A searchable directory of therapists, with profiles, specialities and contact details.
Coverage is stronger internationally than in South Africa, but a useful starting point.
The official register to check that a South African psychologist or counsellor is registered and in good standing.
Beyond the crisis line, SADAG can refer you to mental-health professionals across the country.
Affordable counselling for individuals, couples and families navigating loss and life change.
At the threshold
Hospice & end-of-life support
For the long goodbyes (and the days that follow) when a hospice's quiet expertise can hold the whole family.
Free bereavement counselling for adults and children in the Cape Town area, alongside palliative care.
A national network supporting children with life-limiting illness and their families.
A Johannesburg hospice offering palliative and bereavement care, including home-based support and counselling for patients and families.
Community organisation providing end-of-life care, bereavement support and social services to the Johannesburg community.
For the youngest mourners
Support for grieving children & teens
Children grieve in their own language, through play, through silence, through bursts of feeling. These organisations meet them there.
South African organisation offering bereavement support to children, teens and the adults who care for them.
Children's palliative care and bereavement support across South Africa.
Peer support for bereaved parents, siblings and grandparents after the death of a child.
You are not alone in this
Grief support groups & communities
Sometimes the most healing thing is a room (real or virtual) of people who already understand.
International network of small-group grief support meetings, often hosted by local communities.
Faith-based / Christian in framing.
Local chapters and online support for families after the death of a child of any age.
A registered South African NPO offering a chaplaincy service (including at Red Cross Children's War Memorial Hospital), youth development, and community support rooted in hope, love, strength, and faith.
Faith-based / Muslim-led in framing.
What the body remembers
Body-based & somatic support
Grief is often carried in the body, in the chest, the shoulders, the breath. Some people find quiet relief through gentle physical practices. These are complementary and deeply personal, not medical treatment.
- Kinesiology
A gentle muscle-testing practice that works with stress patterns held in the body.
- Somatic therapy
Body-aware approaches (such as Somatic Experiencing) that help process grief and shock through the nervous system rather than only through words.
- Gentle yoga & breathwork
Slow, restorative movement and conscious breathing to soften a body that has been holding too much.
- Massage & bodywork
Skilled, kind touch, often one of the first ways the body remembers it is safe.
The bigger questions
Spiritual & contemplative support
However a person understands the bigger questions grief raises (faith, mystery, meaning, or simply quiet) there are many ways to be held.
- Faith communities & leaders
Ministers, priests, imams, rabbis, sangomas and other spiritual leaders within one's own tradition.
- Chaplains & spiritual-care workers
Trained companions, often based in hospitals and hospices, who sit with people of any belief or none.
- Meditation & mindfulness
Quiet, attentive practices (secular or contemplative) for being with what is.
- Prayer & ritual
Small, repeated acts (lighting a candle, saying a name aloud) that give grief somewhere to go.
- Time in nature
Walking, sitting, gardening, the sea, the mountain, places older than language.
- Journaling
Writing as a way of listening to oneself, with no audience and no editing.
- Energy practices (such as reiki)
Gentle hands-on or hands-near practices, for those who are drawn to them.
Closer to home
Our network of grief specialists
The counsellors, therapists and companions who work alongside Home for Grief, coming together here in time.
Coming soon, the counsellors and specialists who work alongside Home for Grief. We're gathering this carefully, so that when you arrive here you'll find names, disciplines, short bios and ways to reach each of them.
For practitioners
Are you a counsellor or therapist who would like to walk alongside us?
If you are a counsellor, therapist or companion who holds space for the bereaved, and you feel drawn to the work of the Erin Foundation, we would love to hear from you. Reach out and introduce yourself, and we will find a time to talk.
Contact the foundation
This list grows over time, as we hear of more places that hold grieving people well.
If you know of a resource that belongs here, please write and tell us.