dierdre cook

A Bronx woman, who declined to give her name, said that since her husband’s suicide last year, their 4-year-old daughter, Julia, had struggled to discuss her grief with friends. An event like this, she said, allowed Julia to meet children in the same position — and talk about it.

“She was only 3,” the woman said, adjusting the balloon animal hat atop her daughter’s head. “It’s important to talk about him.”

Julia, beginning on Sept. 27, is to attend group counseling sessions in Bronxville, N.Y., for two hours, every other week. As she prepared to make a beeline for the familiar characters across the room, her mother asked what she planned to speak about at her first session.

“Daddy,” she said, smiling. “And Cookie Monster.”