Before children and parents separate into grief-support groups at Good Grief in Princeton, they gather together for pizza, introductions and an opening circle where families share who they are there for.
For many families walking through the doors of the nonprofit, it is the first time they have been in a room full of people who understand exactly what they are going through.
Founded in 2004, the organization provides free peer-support programs for those grieving the loss of a loved one. Through its centers in Princeton and Morristown, families gather during biweekly nights of support centered on connection, routine and community.
Unlike traditional therapy, Good Grief focuses on peer support, pairing children and adults with others navigating similar experiences.
Families then separate into age-based groups led by trained volunteers and facilitators. The model is intentionally designed to create consistency and familiarity, especially for children whose lives may feel unpredictable after a major loss.
“Good Grief is a nonprofit that is really working to create a more grief-informed world for children and young adults,” said Evelynn Moon, director of learning and content strategy at Good Grief.
That mission, she said, extends beyond simply giving families a place to talk. At its core, the organization aims to normalize conversations around grief while helping young people understand that the emotions they are experiencing are not something they have to carry alone.
“Peer support really is the heart of our model,” Moon said.
Inside the Princeton center, the atmosphere feels far removed from the quiet, clinical setting many people might associate with grief support. Volunteers welcome families as they arrive, helping create an atmosphere that feels more like a community gathering than a formal support program.
The Princeton location is formally known as the Margaret Anne Wilby Center, named in memory of Margaret Anne Wilby, who died suddenly in 2008, leaving behind her husband, Pete, and their five children.
At the time of her death, grief-support services for children and families were not available in the Princeton area. On the 10th anniversary of his wife’s death, Pete Wilby made a lead gift to name the center in her honor, helping support the organization’s mission of ensuring grieving children and families have access to support and community.
Moon said creating that a welcoming atmosphere at the center is intentional.
“It’s so important for these families to be in a space that feels comfortable, clean and welcoming,” she said. “So much of their lives are very upended and can feel chaotic, so just coming to a space where they can relax matters.”
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For Alanna Peet of Morristown, that sense of comfort became critical after her husband passed away in January 2024.
At the time, Peet was suddenly navigating grief while raising two young children and preparing for the birth of another. Like many parents in similar situations, she said she was searching for support not only for herself, but for her children, who were trying to process a loss they were still too young to fully understand.
Within a month of her husband’s passing, Peet and her children joined Good Grief after hearing repeated recommendations for the organization from others in the area.
Before officially joining the program, families tour the center, meet with the staff and learn the structure of each support night. Peet recalled one room lined with handprints dedicated to loved ones who have died, each one representing a child or family carrying grief into the space.
“It was initially just very welcoming,” she said.
Before splitting into smaller groups, families gather together in a circle that helps create a sense of shared understanding among those navigating similar loss.
The consistency of the routine, Peet said, quickly became comforting for both her and her children as they adjusted to life after loss.
“There’s this rhythm of what to expect, and it feels really safe,” Peet said.
For grieving families, that structure can matter deeply. After the death of a loved one, routines can often disappear overnight. Children may suddenly be adjusting to emotional changes within their family while teens and young adults are trying to process grief during already emotionally formative years of their lives.
Moon said Good Grief tries to provide stability during that uncertainty.
That attention to detail reflects the organization’s broader philosophy that grief support is not only about difficult conversations, but also about creating spaces where families can simply breathe.
Support at Good Grief extends beyond talking. Nights often include crafts, games, music, movement activities and spaces specifically designed for emotional expression. One room in the center, known as the “volcano room,” allows children to physically release emotions through movement, jumping and play.
For many children, Moon said, grief is often experienced physically before it can be verbalized.
“Sometimes grief is so physical for some of our kids,” she said.
The organization has learned over the years that children and teens process grief differently than adults. Some want to talk openly about the person who died.
Others communicate through games, art or movement. Teenagers may spend part of the evening discussing school, prom or college decisions before eventually opening up about grief.
Moon said many adults mistakenly assume grief support means sitting quietly and discussing painful emotions. In reality, she said, there is often joy and laughter inside the centers.
“People think kids just sit around and cry,” Moon said. “But sometimes they’re dancing. Sometimes they’re playing Jenga and being kids together.”
That balance between grief and normalcy stood out to Peet as well.
For children grieving the loss of a parent or sibling, they may feel singled out or different in ways they struggle to explain.
At Good Grief, Peet said, that feeling disappears.
“You lose that badge when you go there,” she said. “It allows you to just be a kid.”
For Peet, one of the most meaningful moments early in the process came simply from realizing her family was not alone.
“Wow,” she remembered thinking during her first sessions. “I’m not the only one who’s dealt with this.”
That sense of shared experience is central to the organization’s peer-support model. Moon said grief can often feel isolating for young people, especially in settings where they may not know anyone else who has experienced similar loss.
“We can’t really move through grief in isolation,” she said. “We need that community.”
The organization serves children as young as 3 years old through young adults up to age 30. Adults also participate in their own peer-support groups while their children meet separately.
For many caregivers, the groups become one of the few spaces where they can openly discuss experiences others around them may not fully understand.
Peet described the experience as entering a room filled with people who had already walked part of the path she had just begun.
“I was in the ICU of grief,” she said.
Some members of her group had lost spouses years earlier, while others were only months into their grief. Listening to their experiences helped her understand that healing did not mean forgetting or “moving on,” but learning how to continue living alongside loss.
Over time, she said, she found herself transitioning from someone seeking guidance to someone capable of supporting newer members entering the group.
That cycle of peer support is one of the reasons Moon believes Good Grief’s model resonates so strongly with families. New participants are able to see others further along their grief journeys, while longtime participants are reminded how far they have come.
Because the programs are open-ended, families often attend for one and a half to two years, though some remain connected longer. Others eventually return as volunteers, speakers and advocates for the organization.
Even after leaving the program, many families remain connected to each other. They meet socially while children maintain friendships formed through the program.
The organization also hosts community events throughout the year, including webinars, summer grief camp programming and its annual 5K fundraiser, which will take place May 17 at Mercer County Community College.
The event brings together families, volunteers and community members to support the organization and honor loved ones who have died. It serves as one of the organization’s largest public gatherings each year and reflects its broader mission of building community and connection for grieving children, teens and families across New Jersey. For more information go to good-grief.org/event/5kprinceton.
While Good Grief’s direct-support programs remain at the center of its mission, the organization’s work has increasingly expanded into schools and educator-training programs across New Jersey.
Moon said that shift grew partly out of necessity.
“We can’t get every kid into our building,” she said. “But we can partner with schools.”
Over the past several years, Good Grief has worked with school districts and educators throughout New Jersey, training teachers, counselors and staff on how to support grieving students and create grief-informed school communities.
Beyond K-12 schools, Good Grief also partners with colleges including The College of New Jersey, Rider University and Rutgers University, introducing future educators, counselors and psychology students to grief-informed work.
The organization also offers internships for students interested in areas ranging from psychology and education to communications and program evaluation, helping connect young professionals to work centered on supporting grieving families.
The organization’s work with schools intensified following the COVID-19 pandemic, which Moon said forced grief into public conversation in ways many communities could no longer avoid.
“COVID actually kind of shook loose the grief conversations,” she said.
The growing awareness eventually intersected with statewide policy changes. Good Grief is now part of the NJ Grief Collaborative, a partnership of bereavement organizations across the state recently highlighted in the New York Life Foundation’s 2025 State of Grief Report.
The report recognized New Jersey as a national leader in grief education after becoming the first state to require grief education for students in grades 8 through 12.
While the statewide recognition has brought increased attention to grief education, Moon emphasized that the work ultimately comes back to helping individual children and families feel seen and supported.
According to Moon, one of the biggest misconceptions adults have is the fear that talking about grief will somehow worsen a child’s pain. In reality, she said, many young people want opportunities to talk about the people they lost.
“A lot of people do want to talk about their person,” Moon said.
She believes much of society still struggles with discomfort around grief, particularly when children are involved. Many adults worry about saying the wrong thing, so they say nothing at all.
At Good Grief, those conversations are not avoided. Instead, they are woven naturally into the routines of each night through opening circles, shared memories and spaces where grief does not need to be hidden.
More than two years after her husband’s passing, Peet said Good Grief continues to give her family a place where grief does not need to be explained away or pushed aside as life moves forward.
There is comfort in the familiar faces, leftover pizza at the end of the night, and the quiet understanding that other families are learning to move through loss beside them, too.
Peet said the experience has helped her children hold onto memories of their father while continuing to grow into their own lives.
Moon said the organization ultimately hopes to normalize conversations around grief and make support more accessible for families who may otherwise feel isolated.
“Grief is so common,” she said. “Support really isn’t.”
Even in a place centered around loss, Good Grief becomes more than a support group for many families. Over time, it becomes part of their routines, their community and, in most cases, part of how they continue carrying the memory of the people they lost.
For Peet, that sense of connection is what continues bringing her family back.
“It allows you to just be a kid,” she said. “And it allows us to still make space for him in our lives.”
For more information about Good Grief, its peer-support programs or the organization’s May 17 5K fundraiser and walk at Mercer County Community College, visit www.good-grief.org.
Good Grief, 5 Mapleton Road, Plainsboro, 908-522-1999.
