Parent Speakers 

The voice of bereaved parents is central to our work. Listening to and learning from parents is vital as we work to improve the care and support families receive.

Sands’ Parent Speakers are bereaved parents who attend training workshops for healthcare and other professionals to talk about their experience of care.

Parent speakers ground the training material in lived experience and help the attendees understand the impact and the importance of high-quality care.

Consistently, the feedback Sands receives is that the Parent Speaker is the most important part of the training session, and we are incredibly grateful to those who take on this important role. 

Are you ready to become a parent speaker? 

Everyone will feel differently when it comes to speaking about their personal experience, there is no right or wrong way to feel.

Pregnancy loss and baby loss is a very private experience for some people and others value the opportunity to talk in the knowledge that they are helping to improve standards of care.

The role requires you to speak in front of health care professionals, possibly in a hospital setting, so please do think carefully about whether this is the right role for you.  

What does the role involve? 

Sands runs training workshops across the UK. If there is an upcoming event near you, you will have an opportunity to put yourself forward to fill the parent speaking role.

You will be supported by our bereavement specialist trainers at the event and our training coordinator will liaise with you in respect of the venue and your contact on the day.  

There is no right or wrong way to tell your story.  Often the experience you share will depend on the professionals at the event.

For example, if speaking to midwives you might talk about the care you received at hospital and, if speaking to counsellors, you might talk about the support you received in the weeks, months or years after you left hospital.

Your slot to speak will be in the morning session, we ask you to arrive at 9am and you will be finished by 12pm. You will have around half an hour for speaking and answering questions, which will be followed by a break.  

Download the Parent Speaker Role Description

A Parent Speaker told us: 

“Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed being a small part of the training sessions last week. I’ve not been to bereavement training before, but I was completely blown away with how inclusive and powerful the training was. I haven’t stopped telling people about what I learned last week.

"Many of the people in the loss community have also been asking me about it. One of my friends was delighted to hear that the training covered pregnancy after loss because this experience can sometimes be left out of the general narrative around baby loss.”

Parent Speaker.

How do I apply to become a Sands Parent Speaker? 

Fill out the form below to apply. We will then arrange a short call with the Training team. This is an informal conversation for us to get to know you, we will ask about your baby and your experience, talk through the practicalities of training and answer any questions you may have.   

Once you are on the mailing list, individual opportunities will be advertised to you as they become available.

Fill out the form below to apply to become a Sands Parent Speaker.