Infant Journal
for neonatal and paediatric healthcare professionals

Virtual training sessions available for healthcare professionals dealing with baby death

When a baby dies it is a tragedy at any time but during the current pandemic, bereaved families and the healthcare professionals supporting them have been faced with additional and often distressing challenges. Restrictions around visiting has made access to hospitals difficult for partners and other family members, while support services that would normally be provided for bereaved parents, have been unavailable or severely limited.

Witnessing and coping with this impact on families has been very difficult for healthcare professionals who need access to specialised bereavement training and support now more than ever. Recognising this need, baby loss charity Abigail’s Footsteps has launched a series of virtual baby loss training sessions. These two-hour sessions are fully funded by the charity and provided by Paula Abramson of Bereavement Training International (BTI).

The training is free and suitable for any professional providing care for parents following a pregnancy loss and when a baby dies, including midwives and student midwives, neonatal teams, sonographers, obstetricians, and gynaecology staff. These bitesize sessions are a taster of Bereavement Training International’s full day training workshops and have been tailored specifically to address some of the COVID-19 challenges faced by healthcare professionals.

Subjects covered include: