Always There campaign
Ensuring support is always there for every bereaved family
When a baby dies their memory lives on. Their lives are always there in the hearts and minds of their parents, family and friends, who will always love, and never forget them.
It is important that for parents who are pregnant after a loss, the right care and support is always there. Accessing the best model of care and having healthcare staff to support their journey can truly make a difference.
For more than 40 years, Sands has always been there; walking with bereaved parents as they navigate their lives without their babies, providing a safe space to grieve and commemorate their babies, working with the NHS to provide empathetic bereavement care and campaigning to save babies' lives.
We couldn’t do any of this without the thousands of bereaved parents who volunteer as befrienders, take on fundraising challenges, share their experiences to inform policy and research, and encourage their family and friends to support our campaigns.
A Journey - Growing Around Grief
We all grieve in different ways; many bereaved parents tell us that their grief is a life long journey. This animation explores this journey and illustrates how with support and understanding from those around them bereaved families will remember their baby in their own way and find their way to live with their grief.
How you can get involved
1. Watch and share 'A Journey - Growing Around Grief' animation with your friends and family.
2. Please donate to the #AlwaysThere appeal and help Sands to be always there for bereaved families and save lives in the future.
3. Please join our campaign to improve maternity care for all women who are pregnant again after the death of a baby. Take our e-action here.
You can also download our briefing on the situation in:
4. Update your social media banners with our #AlwaysThere campaign, the resource can be found at the bottom of this page.
Bereavement Support
We know that as grief changes the need for support can change too. That's why at Sands we have a variety of ways we can support so that we are always there for bereaved parents, families, friends and health professionals. As Sands has developed so have the services our Bereavement Support Services Team provide; we have our Freephone Helpline 0808 164 3332, we are always here by email helpline@sands.org.uk, or you can join our Online Community www.sands.community, and most recently developed our Sands Support Facebook Group, which is a safe moderated space for anyone affected by baby loss to share and find support.
We are holding our annual Sands Garden Day online again this year, as we can't all travel to the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas. The theme is nature and wellbeing and over the last 18 months the benefits of being outdoors and finding solace and growth in nature have been especially important. Please join us here.
Volunteers' Week
As we celebrate Volunteers Week 2021 (1-7th June), we wanted to thank our wonderful team of volunteers throughout the UK. Thank you for giving your time selflessly and for supporting Sands during one of the toughest years of our lifetimes. Your willingness to adapt and change and to continue to provide support, raise money and awareness of Sands has been astounding.
With you, we can continue to be there when families need us most. You may be a Befriender, a fundraiser, a treasurer or support us in one of our many other roles. Whatever you do to support Sands, we thank you.
Please take a look at this short video of thanks from our Teams around Sands:
Befriender Training
We are delighted that Befriender recruitment is now under way again, after being paused during the pandemic. Sands Befrienders are peer support volunteers from across the UK who offer bereavement support and information to anyone affected the death of a baby. Our Befrienders have personal experience of seeking support following the death of a baby, giving them valuable insight into how other bereaved people might be feeling. Every Befriender receives full training and support so that they feel fully prepared to thrive in their role. We are extremely proud of our Befrienders and the vital service they provide.
Find out more here.
Support us on social media
Please download the Facebook and Twitter cover banners to help promote our #AlwaysThere campaign on your social media profiles.
Facebook banner:
Twitter banner:
