Pickles Group
Peer groups for children and teens ages 6–18 whose parent or guardian has cancer, including ongoing groups for advanced illness and after a parent’s death.
- Who it supports
- Children and teens ages 6–18 whose parent or guardian has cancer.[2]
- Grief support
- Pickles Jars includes groups for children whose parent died from cancer.[2]
Who it supports
CostPickles Group is a nonprofit focused on kids and teens living through a parent or guardian’s cancer. It works across cancer types.
What it offers
- Connect Over Cancer: a five-week virtual group for ages 6–18, with activities and peer connection around a parent’s diagnosis.
- Pickles Jars: monthly groups during the school year, with separate support for young people facing a parent’s complex or advanced cancer and those whose parent died from cancer.
- A Family Cancer Support Kit in English and Spanish to help families talk about cancer with children.
How to start and what it costs
Use the youth enrollment page or contact the team to ask which group fits your child. A care provider can also refer a family with permission. As of October 2026, Pickles lists these youth programs and the support kit as free.
The organization describes its programs as nationwide in the U.S.; ask about upcoming sessions, space, age-group placement and any location restrictions before enrolling. These are peer-support programs, rather than a replacement for a child’s individual mental-health care.
Other support here
For adult support groups or eligible individual counseling, see CancerCare. For an adult caregiver’s own mentor, see Imerman Angels.
Questions I would ask
- Which program fits my child’s age and our family’s situation?
- How do you group children by age and by what is happening at home?
- What does participation involve for the child and parent?
- Is there a wait for the next group?
Contacts
- Website: Pickles Group
- Program details: Youth programs
- Get started: Youth enrollment
- Email: contact@picklesgroup.org
Services & community focus
Nonprofit
