What is Rainbows ?

Rainbows was founded to provide a bridge to emotional healing by facilitated peer - mediated support to grieving children, adolescents and adults confronting death, divorce, separation,  or other life-altering crises,  “because it does not need to hurt forever.” It is currently in seventeen countries of the world including Australia.

Rainbows offer the following age directed program: 

• Sunbeams - kindergarten, pre-primary and Year one.
• Rainbows - primary Years 2 - 7.
• Spectrum - secondary Years 8 - 12.
• Kaleidoscope - young adult edition.
• Prism - single parent and step parent edition.
• Silver Linings - crisis response program.   Silver Linings works differently to that described below. Please see Silver Linings page for more details.

How does it work ?

Rainbows groups consist of a trained facilitator and 3-5 participants.  These participants are grouped according to age and often types of loss.

The program is most commonly implemented in schools, although it is also conducted in churches, youth groups and community agencies.  Site groups meet weekly for twelve weeks, for up to forty minutes for Primary School students and up to one hour for Secondary School students.

On completion of the twelve sessions, all the groups in the site come together for a Celebrate Me session.  This is a special celebration designed to bring closure to the participants and to celebrate their own uniqueness and that of their family unit.  

Sessions are usually conducted during school hours but may also be conducted after school.