Stephen Ministry is the one-to-one lay caring ministry that takes place in participating congregations. Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers-called Stephen Ministers-to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting.

Male and female Stephen Ministers are paired with male and female Care Receivers respectively. Confidentiality is key to the ministry. Stephen Ministers receive support through supervision, continuing education, and coaching on a monthly basis.

Stephen Ministry is open to the public; church membership is not required.

Free

The Community of Hope is a group of laypersons steeped in Benedictine spirituality, who serve others through compassionate listening. These persons, specially trained in the art of pastoral presence, serve as regular visitors to persons for a period of time, such as a season of illness or bereavement.

GriefShare is a friendly, caring group of people who will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences.

GriefShare seminars and support groups are led by people who understand what you are going through and want to help. You’ll gain access to valuable GriefShare resources to help you recover from your loss and look forward to rebuilding your life.

GriefShare also offers short daily email messages that encourage, inspire, and provide practical information. Click here to sign up.

Click here to find this group's most current dates and times.

Free.

Heart 2 Heart is a ministry of San Antonio’s First Baptist Church and was founded on two simple principles:

• We all experience brokenness sometime in our life; and
• There is healing in God’s Word.

Divorce Care
Will anyone accept you after divorce? This group will. Take steps toward courage and wholeness with those who know how deeply divorce can cut.

Considering Forgiveness
Does forgiveness mean excusing harmful behavior? Is forgiveness necessary? Explore these difficult questions in a group that won't insult your dignity by minimizing or downplaying the hurt you have known.

Grief Share
Grief is a burden too heavy for anyone’s shoulders to bear alone. In this fellowship, you’ll find a group that stands by one another when the loss you’ve known bends you to the ground.

Men's Freedom Group
(meets year-round on Tuesdays)
We are a Christ-centered, 12 step self-help group providing a safe and confidential setting (apart from other H2H groups) for men recovering from sexual addiction. Our goal is to provide you with the support of fellow recovery travelers with once-weekly meetings year-round.

Journey to Restoration
This caring ministry creates a safe space for those who during childhood were abused, sexually, physically, emotionally, verbally or by neglect.

All groups are open to the community. You do not need to be a member of the church.

Register and see current schedule online here.

Free.

GriefShare is a friendly, caring group of people who will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences.

GriefShare seminars and support groups are led by people who understand what you are going through and want to help. You’ll gain access to valuable GriefShare resources to help you recover from your loss and look forward to rebuilding your life.

GriefShare also offers short daily email messages that encourage, inspire, and provide practical information. Click here to sign up.

Click here to find this group's most current dates and times.

Please call church for details on how to get registered.

$20.00 for Workbook.

Stephen Ministry is the one-to-one lay caring ministry that takes place in participating congregations. Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers-called Stephen Ministers-to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting.

Male and female Stephen Ministers are paired with male and female Care Receivers respectively. Confidentiality is key to the ministry. Stephen Ministers receive support through supervision, continuing education, and coaching on a monthly basis.

Stephen Ministry is open to the public; church membership is not required.

Free.

The purpose of the Center for Infant and Child Loss is to provide support to families who have experienced the tragic loss of their infant or young child due to any cause. Services include funeral assistance, individual/family counseling, grief support literature and annual memorial service among others.

The child must reside in either Bexar, Atascosa, Bandera, Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Medina, Real, Uvalde or Wilson County.

Free.

Family Service Association offers numerous professional counseling services including Individual, Couples, Family, Group, Substance Abuse Counseling, and Consultations.

We also provide educational groups such as Anger Management and Domestic Violence Prevention designed to help maintain personal wellness.

Services are offered locally in the San Antonio metropolitan area and our rural locations. The services are provided through a combination of at-home and office-based visits. Our licensed counselors are available on days, evenings, Saturdays, and by special appointment.

Our counseling professionals provide services to include working with children, youth, families, and seniors. Our team has many specialized skills to address a wide range of counseling needs. Services are offered for both short and long-term depending on individual needs. We are available to assist with the following:

• Anger Management
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Depression
• Domestic Violence
• Grief Support
• LGBT Issues
• Life Skills
• Parenting
• Relapse Prevention
• Relationships
• Stress
• Substance Abuse
• Victimization from Crime
• And more!

Counseling services are now available in both in-person and telehealth formats at the discretion of the client, following an initial enrollment session in-person.

For more information, please contact the Family Service Behavioral Health Counseling team at 210-299-2406. 

Funding is provided by United Way, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Client Fees, School Districts, Medicaid, Private Contracts, Private Insurance, Criminal Justice Division (CJD) Grant, and Office of Attorney General (OAG) Grant.

Call to verify eligibility.

• Individual Counseling is a collaborative process between the patient and psychologist where psychological symptoms are discussed, monitored and treated in order to facilitate change and improve quality of life. At First Step, with 10+ years of experience, we guide and educate you to help you improve the overall quality of your daily life with individual counseling to help you focus on your goals and future milestones.
• Couples Counseling is an invaluable tool for couples undergoing stress related to poor communication, major life changes or destructive relationship patterns. For stress-free, fight-free, sometimes couples counseling comes in handy for you and your partner to better understand each other and look through the foggy clouds formed between both of you due to constant fights or arguments.
• Family Therapy is designed to address specific issues that affect the wellbeing of the family unit, such as major life transitions, mental health conditions, or major medical illness. We carter family therapy to help with all the issues that can affect the well-being of the family unit, individually and in a group, including significant life transitions and mental and physical health conditions, to help everyone in the family become a strong pillar for the family.

We implement:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD
• Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD
• Exposure Therapies for Specific Phobias

Dr. Hernandez is an Out of Network provider, meaning she does not work directly with insurance providers. You may be eligible for reimbursement by your insurance as an "Out of Network" expense. We would be happy to supply you with the receipts to submit to your insurance.

Click here to contact us.

Click here for information on fees.

Stephen Ministry is the one-to-one lay caring ministry that takes place in participating congregations. Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers-called Stephen Ministers-to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting.

Male and female Stephen Ministers are paired with male and female Care Receivers respectively. Confidentiality is key to the ministry. Stephen Ministers receive support through supervision, continuing education, and coaching on a monthly basis.

Stephen Ministry is open to the public; church membership is not required.

Click here for more information.

Free.

Members of this committee minister to grieving families by helping them with funeral arrangements and to find some healing in the loss of a loved one.

Activities:

Lead a rosary at the funeral home, assist the family in finding lectors and gift bearers for the funeral Mass. For All Souls Day, the commitee organizes a memorial mass for all the families whose loved ones were buried from St. Ann during the year. In addition to this ministry, after the funeral, the commitee contacts a family member inviting them to host a rosary in memory of their loved one in their home (Valley of Tears).

The ministry continues by offering the family the opportunity to attend a monthly support group (St. Ann Support Group for the Bereaved). Once a year they hold a Holiday Workshop to help survivors through the holidays.

Anyone who feels the call to serve those who are having to deal with the loss of a loved are welcome to join.

Connecting with others who accept and affirm one's life journey is crucial in the grief journey. This eight-week class has been created as a place where members of the LGBTQ community are assured a safe environment where they can embrace their grief, learn to bear it, and discover ways to heal. Attending all eight sessions is most beneficial, therefore no new participants are accepted after the second session.

Please call Darwin Huartson, 210-227-8221, to inquire location and starting dates for class sessions.

Free.

Grace Counseling offers quality, holistic, and affordable therapy to individuals, children, couples, and families.

Specialties include anxiety, depression, and stress management, grief and loss, relationship and marriage counseling, parenting concerns and adjustment, and anger management.

Additionally, counselors will be able to provide specialized and expert care in healing a child and his/her family following a trauma through trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy, and sand tray therapy.

Therapy is offered in both Spanish and English.

For more information or to make an appointment, visit us online or call (210) 377-1133.

Grief Camps are a great resource to help normalize individual reactions to grief by allowing children to interact with peers who have suffered a similar loss.

Grief camps engage children in therapeutic activities that incorporate art, writing, music, and movement to help process feelings of grief.

Children who attend grief camps learn to develop healthy coping skills while restoring a sense of normalcy with peers and surviving family members.

The Center currently offers two different camp experiences for children: Camp Heroes and Hermann Sons Life Camp.

Your child may benefit from our program if you notice they are experiencing one or more of the following:

• trouble concentrating in class
• come seeking attention, but have difficulty explaining why
• withdrawal from peers or social activities they once enjoyed
• frequent somatic complaints (headache or stomach ache)
• increased anger outbursts

Camp Heroes is ideal for any child:

• Ages 7-11 years
• Currently enrolled in an elementary school
• Have experienced the death of a family member within the last two years

Enrollment priority is given to first-time campers.

We believe that each person’s journey through grief is unique and therefore deserving of a distinctive approach to healing. Our goal is to help children, adolescents and their caregivers understand the depth of their grief, stabilize and preserve family relationships, and develop healthy coping skills after the death of a loved one.

From this philosophy, we offer private therapy sessions, for both the individual and family members, who are experiencing or anticipating the death of a loved one. Our homelike facility accentuates the healing process as clients receive psychotherapy and choose expressive art modalities such as art, music, poetry, dance/movement, drama, writing in a tranquil and supportive environment.

Our specialties are:

• Play therapy for children
• Sandplay for all ages
• Expressive art therapy for all ages
• For more information on our Peer Grief Support Groups, click here.

All counselors are state licensed mental health professionals or graduate level therapists working under supervision.

Please fill out our Intake Questionnaire before coming in for your orientation session.

The form can be found online here.

The Center offers individual and family counseling at no cost.

Our peer support group programs bring together youth and families with similar death loss experiences to help normalize feelings, share experiences, and grieve the death of a parent, sibling or close family member. Peer support programs are open-ended and are offered at no cost to families. Each group meets twice per month in our beautiful home-like setting, which provides a safe, nurturing environment conducive to healing. Children who attend groups engage in therapeutic activities such as: play therapy, narrative therapy, art, poetry, journaling, music, meditation, guided imagery, dance/movement and recreational activities to help process feelings of grief.

Peer Grief Support Groups:

• Beyond Illness: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have lost a parent to chronic illness.
• Beyond Sudden Death: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have experienced the sudden death of a parent.
• Beyond Violence: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have experienced the murder of a parent or other family members.
• Beyond Self Hurt: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have had a parent or sibling die of suicide.
• Sibling: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have experienced the death of a brother or sister, either suddenly or as the result of a chronic disease.
• Family: For children, ages 6 and up, and their families who have experienced the death of a grandparent, extended family member or friend.
• Little Hearts: For ages 3-5 who have experienced any death loss.

Our peer support groups are offered at no cost for children and their families.

Hermann Sons Life Camp and the Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas are partnering to offer a Grief Support Camp sessions throughout the summer where children and teens who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, family member, close friend, or other special person can have the opportunity to process their grief in a fun and inviting camp environment.

Hermann Sons Life Camp is ideal for any child ages 6-17 that have experienced the death of a loved one.

Please contact the Center for more information on the camp process at [email protected] or (210) 736-4847, ext. 241.

Wonders and Worries is San Antonio’s first support program for families in crisis due to a parent serious life/threatening diagnosis condition that can include cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, as well as many others.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, the START Center for Cancer Care, and Wonders and Worries of Austin, local families have a resource available when they receive life-threatening news for a family member.

Wonders and Worries ensures that children and teenagers (ages 2-18) can reach their full potential even though their parent is going through a serious illness. A parent’s illness can affect a child’s mental health, brain development, relationships and school performance. But with tools and guidance, families can strengthen their communication and effectively support each other. All services are provided free of charge, and offered in English and Spanish.

Services Provided:

• Individual Sessions: Providing one-on-one support for ages 2-18
• Group Sessions: Bringing together children ages 5+ to meet others coping with similar experiences
• Parent Consultations: Connecting parents with methods to better manage and communicate during an illness, through consultations and parenting classes
• Professional child life staff will work with the children, teens (2-18 years of age) and their caregivers through activities, education and self-expression, so that they gain:
• Age-appropriate understanding of the illness, treatments and side effects
• Strategies for expressing feelings related to changes in the family
• Skills for coping with stress, anger, sadness and fear
• Confidence in how to communicate openly, honestly and constructively
• Connections to peers sharing similar experiences

For more information, please call (210) 307-4853 or check out the Wonders and Worries website here.

These services are offered free of charge in English and Spanish.

Grief resolution and accompaniment program. A diocesan ministry for divorced, separated, and widowed individuals of all denominations. The San Antonio, Texas, Chapter of Beginning Experience offers several weekend retreats each year. For questions about our retreat browse the information on our website, and then give us a call.

The total cost for the weekend is $160.00, which includes meals and lodging and a small stipend for our International Ministry Center.

If you or a loved one would like to be visited by a Catholic chaplain or lay hospital minister while you are in the hospital, the Archdiocese of San Antonio is happy to assist you. Hospital Ministry brings the care of the Catholic community to all Catholics who are hospitalized. This outreach is accomplished through visiting patients and families, providing daily sacramental services for patients, staff and volunteers at local hospitals.

This support group is designed to help in the process of grieving after losing a loved one.

Please call the church office for meeting time and other details.

Family Service Association offers numerous professional counseling services including: Individual, Couples, Family, Group, Substance Abuse Counseling, and Consultations.

We also provide specialty educational groups such as Anger Management and Domestic Violence Prevention designed to help maintain personal wellness. Services are offered locally in the San Antonio metropolitan area and our rural locations. The services are provided through a combination of at-home and office-based visits. Our licensed counselors are available days, evenings, Saturdays, and by special appointment.

Our counseling professionals provide services to include working with children, youth, families, and seniors. Our team has many specialized skills to successfully address a wide range of counseling needs. Services are offered for both short and long-term depending on individual needs. We are available to assist with the following:

• Anger Management
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Child Sexual Abuse
• Depression
• Domestic Violence
• Grief Support
• LGBT Issues
• Life Skills
• Parenting
• Relapse Prevention
• Relationships
• Stress
• Substance Abuse
• Victimization from Crime
• And more!

Counseling services are now available in both in-person and telehealth formats at the discretion of the client, following an initial enrollment session in-person.

For more information, please contact the Family Service Behavioral Health Counseling team at 210-299-2406.

Funding is provided by United Way, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Client Fees, School Districts, Medicaid, Private Contracts, Private Insurance, Criminal Justice Division (CJD) Grant, and Office of Attorney General (OAG) Grant.

A very special group for parents who have lost a child of any age (child or adult). It is an open group welcoming any parent seeking support through this tender and powerful time. Members of the group work hard to honor their sorrow, and at the same time discover hope and meaning in their lives.

This group of men 65 and older, invite you to join them for lunch and fellowship as you grieve the loss of your wife. This ongoing group will focus on the different characteristics grieving men share, including, coping with loneliness. It is a place to honor your wife while moving towards a renewed and meaningful life.

Facilitated by Celeste Miller, Bereavement Coordinator at Porter Loring Mortuary.

Stephen Ministry is the one-to-one lay caring ministry that takes place in participating congregations. Stephen Ministry congregations equip and empower lay caregivers-called Stephen Ministers-to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting.

Male and female Stephen Ministers are paired with male and female Care Receivers respectively. Confidentiality is key to the ministry. Stephen Ministers receive support through supervision, continuing education, and coaching on a monthly basis.

Stephen Ministry is open to the public; church membership is not required.

Free.

This group is open to women 60 and older who have lost a husband and would like to join with other women in a journey of sharing, comfort, and healing. "Women in Grief" will provide you a safe place to explore the roots of your grief, learn ways to express and cope with it, and move on to a more refreshed and renewed life when you are ready.

Facilitated by Celeste Miller MA, the Bereavement Coordinator at Porter Loring Mortuary.

Helping you and your family through difficult times by providing holistic care and an ear to listen.

Support through Hardships

We offer support in daily living and at times of need or crisis. We always want to hear from members when life changes occur. We hope that we can walk with you through the difficult task of making sense of life’s challenges and finding a way forward. You are not alone.

Hospital Visits

When you or a loved one are at your most vulnerable, we want to be a place where you can turn for support. If you know about a procedure beforehand, let us know so we can care for you.

Spiritual Guidance

When you need to help on your spiritual journey or find yourself in a spiritual rut, we're here for you. Growing as a disciple of Christ involves questioning. We welcome the skeptics, the outcasts, and the excluded, and hope to help you find your home here.

Referrals

While we desire to be there for you during all parts of your life, sometimes other professional services might be able to better meet your needs. When this is the case, we strive to connect you with the appropriate services. Let us know what type of help you need, and we will point you in the right direction.

Counselors are clinicians-in-training, supervised by licensed university faculty. The counselors are students enrolled in programs within the Department of Counseling and Human Services at St. Mary's. All counselors speak English; some speak Spanish.

For Adults:

• Couple relationship problems
• Premarital counseling
• Communication skills
• Divorce recovery
• Depression
• Career planning
• Managing stress
• Grief

For Children and Adolescents:

• Parenting challenges
• Family conflict
• Behavior problems
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Peer relationships
• School challenges
• Attention deficit and hyperactivity

Open to the public.

The Family Life Center offers high quality services on a sliding scale based on a client’s household income and personal financial situation. Fees are determined when a client’s first therapy session is scheduled.

The following are some tools available to assist you in your healing journey. Contact us to discuss other resources and find a personalized solution to support you on the road to recovery.

• 365 Days of Healing - Click here to subscribe to these daily inspirational emails.
• GriefShare is a friendly, caring group of people who will walk alongside you through one of life’s most difficult experiences.
• Web Healing offers grief discussion boards where you can talk with others who are grieving or browse recommended books on grief.
• The Compassionate Friends - Whether your family has had a child die (at any age, from any cause), or you are helping those who have gone through this life-altering experience, The Compassionate Friends exists to provide friendship, understanding, and hope to those going through the grieving process as a parent.
• AARP will help you find articles, discussions, and helpful information on dealing with end-of-life care, the challenges faced by caregivers, and how to deal with grief after a loss.
• When Families Grieve - This guide was created by Sesame Workshop, the educational organization behind Sesame Street.
• Click here for helpful children's books.
• Advice from author Judith Acosta who helps counsel parents on ways to help kids heal from fear and pain in a variety of situations, including the death of a loved one.