Will you help us reach parents who are grieving the loss of a baby during Covid-19?
During the Coronavirus pandemic, like many charities we have changed the way we’re helping people, by moving our services online.
We urgently need to raise £21,000 by 10th September which will help us to deliver 300 online therapy sessions and help parents like Lyn & Tom.
This is the story of Lyn, Tom and Pip.
Our journey to Petals was a long one. Having tried to start a family for 4 painful years, we eventually went through IVF and fell pregnant. As excited first time parents we hadn’t wanted to know the sex of our baby – and so we affectionately referred to my bump as ‘Pip’. After labouring at home, we arrived at hospital and were told Pip’s heart had stopped beating. Life as we knew it shattered into a million tiny pieces. We had fallen through a crack in the universe into an alternative reality that no-one ever contemplates in advance.
We sought help from Petals. Our counsellor was our guardian angel. She led us gently, with huge empathy and compassion towards a new path out of our all-encompassing grief and towards a future; whilst changed and very different to the one we were expecting – a future all the same. Losing Pip has taught us so much. It has, of course, changed our lives forever but we are now able to see that surviving stillbirth has given us a surety that we can survive anything.
Whatever you can afford to give will help parents grieving the loss of a baby - during the coronavirus pandemic and in the future.
Why we need to raise £21,000
The care and support parents receive following the loss of a baby is not consistent across the UK. Some parents who have lost a baby are largely left to cope with their complex grief alone. Once they have left the hospital, there are no support services for these new parents because, for these parents, there is no baby to bring home.
Parents experiencing grief and loneliness during Covid-19
Due to Covid-19, many women are having to cope with miscarriage alone at home. Partners are unable to attend scan or hospital appointments and so women are alone supported only by healthcare professionals having to wear PPE at a time when they need comforting.
These changes make an already intolerable situation even harder and increases the sense of loneliness they will experience. We want to be there for more parents, wherever they are in the country and offer online counselling support to help them through this lonely and traumatic time.
It’s working
Our counsellors have now seen many women and couples online, with over 90% uptake across all of our services. Over the last three months, we have proved, to ourselves and them, that it can work and the quality of our support.
But we need to raise £21,000 to ensure we can deliver 300 more counselling sessions and support parents across the UK.
“It really felt like our counsellor had joined us in our living room. I felt more open about talking about things and felt I didn’t have to put on a brave face after the sessions. It was also part of our healing process. We spent so much time crying for our baby in our living room it was nice to “heal” there together afterwards.” Online counselling client, June 2020.
Online counselling works and can help parents at their most vulnerable - particularly during the Coronavirus pandemic, when we’re unable to meet in person. But we need your support to keep delivering this vital service.
How you can help
Please give a donation to help us provide counselling:
Each online session costs £70.
Parents will be offered 6 sessions costing a total of £420.
How Petals helps
We know our counselling works, but don’t just take our word for it, hear from some amazing people who are a part of our Petals Community.
Please make a donation and support our work during Coronavirus. We can’t take away the pain of baby loss but we can help parents process their emotions and find hope again.
Karen Burgess
CEO, Petals
Visit www.petalscharity.org to find out more about our work