fbpx

About

About Kara

As a nonprofit organization serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1976, Kara provides comprehensive grief support, crisis intervention and education to individuals and communities facing the difficult realities of death and loss. Guided by empathy and compassion, every day we offer caring support to children and adults and provide a space where those in grief find deep relief in the company of others. Through a time-tested and highly effective peer support model (adopted from the Shanti Model of peer support originated by Dr. Charles Garfield), over 150 volunteers compassionately serve children and adults on their journey through grief so they can move toward renewed hope and meaning. Our services are designed to be accessible, and we are funded primarily by charitable donations and the heartfelt generosity of the community we serve.

How We Can Help

Change, loss and trauma are natural in the cycle of life and grief is our natural reaction. Kara offers a safe and caring environment where those coping with death and dying can express and normalize their feelings of grief. Our peer services are provided by volunteers with experience in healing from their own personal loss and are carefully screened, trained and supervised. Our support model advocates listening, speaking, and acting from the heart in service to others. Kara is a self-referral organization and our services are offered to individuals, families and organizations in the Bay Area community.


Request Services:
Call Us 650-321-5272 | Submit Online Form | En Español

Professional referrals are welcome.
Please review our Professional Referral Guidelines

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

Out of Solitude, Henri Nouwen

Community Member Testimonials

  • Peer Client
    My grief counselor from Kara was exactly what i needed at the time i needed it. I had lost my only son, and she had as well, in the same way, there was nothing i could tell her that surprised her, all the terrible thoughts i was having , I felt so hopeless,  but she showed me that such a loss is survivable, and that life still will have meaning and gladness, at some point.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    In the Irish language, the word for friend is Cara (but is pronounced like Kara). So when I think of Kara, friendship and love is what comes to mind...Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done for my family.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    I can't imagine not having this experience. I feel it helped heal and transform my grief into a greater intention to honor all of my ongoing life through this beautiful wide awake lens of living and being present to the moment and meaning of life.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    Kara helped connect me to a friend and someone to talk to.  It was very hard when everyone close was going through difficult times and family lives so far away.  Kara services connected me with a friend and a source or hope and comfort when I felt like I had no one.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    I literally don’t know how I would have gotten through this past year without my group and my individual peer counselor. Having someone or a group of people who understood, on a weekly basis was invaluable.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    My counselor accompanied me on the toughest journey I have ever had to take and without that support I know it would've been much tougher and taken me much longer to reach this point. I am so impressed by the support services offered by Kara. Thank you!
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    Kara is the only place I know where a grieving person can receive the kind of understanding and guidance, directly from a skilled person who has most likely had a similar experience in their own lives, on how to deal with the pain and suffering of a loss.
    Peer Client
  • Peer Client
    The agency is run professionally. The staff and facilitators are mature and experienced. There was no mandatory fee for services, but I was filled with gratitude and was more than willing to make a donation.
    Peer Client

Agency Address Information

Primary Service Address
457 Kingsley Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Youth & Family Services Address
All Saints Episcopal Church
555 Waverly Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Administrative Office
Sobrato Center for Nonprofits
3460 W. Bayshore Road Suite 206
Palo Alto, CA 94303