Fall has arrived! A new school year has started, the leaves are beginning to change colors, and The Children's Room is ready to welcome new and returning families and volunteers to our Arlington center.

We are excited to begin a new phase of our growth as an organization serving children, teens, families, professionals, and members of the community at our center in Arlington and reaching out well beyond our walls.

Over the last three years, we have piloted and established peer support groups at schools in Boston, Lexington, Needham, and Arlington. We have been sharing our expertise in grief support with professionals in education, healthcare, and community leadership, including members of the Newtown, CT community. 

All these efforts support our mission to create safe, supportive communities so that no child, teen, or family has to grieve alone. We felt this support strongly after the Boston Marathon bombings, as we talked about this in our groups and reassured the TCR community of the safety of our eight runners, their families, and TCR staff and supporters who were there on race day.

The Children's Room is thrilled to report that 2012-13 was our biggest fundraising year ever, allowing us to expand our programs and to further the establishment of our organization as a center of expertise in grief support. We also completed a renovation to our Arlington house that allows the three main floors to be fully devoted to our services for children, teens, families, and trainees.

The Children's Room is deepening our roots and poised for growth. With your continued support, we look forward to accomplishing even more great things in the coming year.

TCR staff member Colleen Shannon, LICSW shares her story of beginning a peer support group in a local high school and her new, exciting role at The Children's Room. This feature story is the first in a series that will highlight staff at TCR.

Colleen's Story

"Three years ago today, I sat in the guidance office of Lexington High School with a bowl full of stones, 15 nametags and a handful of markers. The bell rang to signal the change of classes. I took a deep breath.

"We began planning for a high school peer support group the year before. TCR's Teen Troupe performed at Lexington High, we offered training for guidance staff, and we presented an information night for parents. The stage was set to welcome students into our first peer support group, on high school turf. I wondered if anyone would show. 

"Questions ran through my mind... would this group work? Would it be too vulnerable for high school students to talk about such personal and painful experiences in the middle of a school day? The bell rang again, interrupting my thoughts. Three students arrived, positioning themselves cautiously, yet nonchalantly, as far as could be from where I sat with my co-facilitators..." 

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The Children's Room is pleased to announce that Colleen Shannon, LICSW will take the lead in further developing our school and community-based peer support groups. We are excited to announce our first group in a community-based setting, The Chelsea Boys & Girls Club, starting this fall. We will also return for groups at Lexington and Needham High Schools and Ottoson Middle School in Arlington.

Please CLICK HERE to read more about Colleen's first day with that ground-breaking peer support group at Lexington High in 2010. We have added 3 more schools since then and are now poised to add even more. We are thrilled to bring the warm, caring support of The Children's Room to more places where children live and learn.  

• New living room furniture from   Bob's Discount Furniture

  Martin Conneely and Conneely Contracting for their fabulous work on our renovation project and continued commitment to The Children's Room.
• Maryanne Andrew, TCR Advisory Board member and our renovation project manager. Your involvement, time, and attention to detail was essential and appreciated!
• Michael Pridham of ServPro of Cambridge/Belmont for deep cleaning our Arlington center every year before children and families arrive for groups in the fall. Thank you for going above and beyond this year!
• Big Foot Moving for providing much-needed help with moving and storage during our renovation project.
• Peter Lushi of Arlington for his generous donation of time and professional painting skills to help our new program space look beautiful and fresh for families.
• Bob's Discount Furniture for donating furniture for our new living room.
• And countless others who helped out in so many ways behind the scenes!