Supporting both parents - part one

Voices of Baby Loss

This episode shares stories from bereaved parents and handles the subject of baby loss, bereavement and grief.

In this episode, Caroline and Jen had intended to speak to both Pete and Chey but their their chats with them were so poignant that they decided to split the episode into two parts to give both Pete and Chey more room to tell their stories. This week we hear from Pete who lost his first son Thomas in January 2004. Peter felt for years that support wasn’t out there for him – feeling lost and isolated. He didn’t want to be the only bloke in the room crying at a support meeting. That all changed after he took part in the Bristol 10k in May 2018 to raise money for Bristol Sands.

After reading a comment on the group facebook page from the event later that night he realised he needed to look for support. A few weeks later he went to his first support meeting and shortly after joined the Bristol Sands committee. Just over 6 months later, after discovering Sands United he founded the Sands United Bristol football club and shortly after became a befriender for Sands – offering peer support at meetings.

They also share some of the ways in which Sands can support parents’ wellbeing, through their Bereavement Support Services team and through virtual fundraising challenges.

Useful links

To find a Sands virtual fundraising challenge as another way to support your own wellbeing, visit https://www.sands.org.uk/get-involved

To find out more about Sands United, visit https://www.sands.org.uk/get-involved/sands-united-fc

For more information on becoming a Sands befriender, visit https://www.sands.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer-sands/sands-befrienders

To find your local Sands group, visit https://www.sands.org.uk/support/how-we-offer-support/sands-groups/nearest

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Sands is here to support anyone affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby, whenever and however they need it. You can get support from thesupport pages of our website , by joining our online community or by joining our facebook support group or facebook support group for Dads

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Sands saves babies’ lives and supports bereaved families. To learn more about Sands, visit our website or find us on facebook , Instagram and Twitter

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Voices of Baby Loss is produced by Under The Mast , creative audio productions