1 of 4 pregnancies ends in the loss of a baby. This is a topic of stigma in our society. Healthcare workers have neither knowledge nor mechanisms to deal with such patients. They have not been trained to deal with losses, that’s why they have a psychological trauma and cause it to their patients.

We cannot avoid losses, but we can train hospital staff to deal with them.

In Australia, the parents support system has been in place since the 80s, and support practices have been developing here for over 30 years. Today, every employee of perinatal centres there takes the compulsory self-care and parents care training. Australian hospitals have enough materials for parents; after leaving the hospital, they obtain supportive care such as support groups or information resources. Such a system has been built up over the years. In Ukraine, Opika Anhela (Angel Care) is the first organisation to launch the support system for parents who have experienced child loss.

The first step in implementing parents support at a hospital is staff training. The project team plans to develop and provide medical staff with the guide that will teach them to work and provide qualified support to patients and their families, as well as themselves.

The training guide will contain the following sections:

1. Overcoming sorrow when losing a pregnancy and a baby.
2. Speaking about the unspeakable.
3. Dealing with parents who are experiencing loss.
4. Words matter.
5. Creating memories.
6. Pregnancy after loss.
7. Self-care when working with parents who are experiencing loss.

If You Are Experiencing Loss Guide complements other activity of Opika Anhela and is implemented for further use at other perinatal centres of Ukraine.

Funding from Urban Space 100 will cover the cost of creation, design and printing of information materials and project administration.

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