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“CRADLE has been invaluable in their efforts to provide for women in Manchester. Not only do they provide practical support with dignity packs to help women when they present to hospital suffering from early pregnancy loss or complications, they have provided emotional support for those who need them in the form of support groups and a helpline. This has helped fill a void in the current service in the aftercare of women who are experiencing some of the most difficult and uncertain events in their lives. CRADLE has also supported formal training for nurses working in early pregnancy care and we greatly benefit from their input.”
Denman interviewed Dawn Brown from CRADLE who explained a little more about the background of the charity and the amazing things they are doing.
Could you please tell us a little about the cradle charity and its origin?
CRADLE Charity is a national pregnancy loss charity working with the NHS to ensure our support is made available to anyone affected by pregnancy loss. As an inclusive charity, we provide support for every pregnancy loss journey including when the hardest decisions have been made about a pregnancy.
CRADLE started as a small project in 2019 at Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, founded by Louise Zeniou following her experience of Pregnancy of Unknown Location and Ectopic Pregnancy and has since developed into a National Charity, supported by our team of CRADLE Ambassadors and CRADLE Healthcare Ambassadors. Every NHS CRADLE service is different, and we aim to create bespoke services that reflect the needs of each site.
Our national team of volunteers and corporate partners donate CRADLE Comfort Bags to more than 45 NHS hospitals. These are filled with essential toiletries made available to women or couples receiving care, during or following pregnancy loss.
More than 45 NHS Hospitals have a CRADLE early pregnancy loss bereavement service, many of which have been set up by healthcare professionals. Across the UK we now have a team of HCA’s, Nurses, Bereavement Midwives, Chaplains, and other colleagues who have joined CRADLE as Ambassadors to make CRADLE resources and support available to the families in their care.
It’s such a beautiful thing to do at such a difficult time in someone’s life. How can other health professionals start a CRADLE service in their area?
CRADLE welcome enquiries from other healthcare professionals if they would like to start a service at their hospital. We would first request that those who would like to run the service email louise@cradlecharity.org to register their interest and to see if we have any future service planned for that site.
From there we would ask that a conversation is had with their Head of Nursing and Midwifery. Introduce them to our website and social media if they are not yet aware of what the service can look like, then if they receive an initial agreement, we will set up a meeting with heads of all departments in the hospital where CRADLE resources would be situated. From this meeting we can discuss the logistics and set-up costs depending on what is required. Every NHS CRADLE service is different, and we aim to create bespoke services that reflect the needs of each site working with the Trust.
Besides the comfort bags, how else is Cradle able to help people at this time?
CRADLE offer Peer Support through our COMMUNITY which is an online forum set up outside of social media, as we know that many women and partners will come off social media during this time. Your profile can be anonymous, and the forum is moderated by CRADLE trustees, link to Forum is below
We also offer weekly Peer Support through Zoom. This is a small session facilitated by two trained CRADLE facilitators with lived experience for an hour and we have 8 places available each week. You can attend as many times as you would like, booking link is below
“CRADLE's support sessions have provided me with an invaluable safe space to talk through how I am feeling. Attending the sessions has meant I feel like my feelings and grief are both validated which has greatly helped the healing process through what has been a very difficult time.”
On Facebook we have a Peer Support group with over 1,700 people that is moderated by CRADLE trustees. This is a very active group and extremely supportive, link to group is below
https://www.facebook.com/groups/593156274504746
We have a small amount of funding in certain regions or at specific hospital trusts, where we can offer a specialist counselling service to individual and partners. This service is limited but enquires can be made to annmarie@cradlecharity.org to see if any places are currently available.
“The counselling sessions were of great benefit to me. Our counsellor was a huge support after the loss of our daughter and without the sessions I’m pretty sure I would have fallen into a pit of despair. Nothing will bring our daughter back but being able to speak to someone impartial who would just listen, provide mechanisms to help the grief process really made life just a little bit easier. Thank you Cradle!”
Denman are so glad they are able to help support with sponsorship and products but is there a way others can help? Can they donate and if so, where should they go to do this?
CRADLE is so grateful to all of our retail partners and individuals in the community who donate toiletries for the comfort bags and tissue packs for our Outpatient Packs, as without you the Comfort Bag project wouldn’t be able to continue. We are always grateful for financial donations that enable us to keep our core services running for everyone to access. We have a secure CAF donation platform situated in our website that can be accessed here:
www.cradlecharity.org/donations
If you would like to set up a fundraiser for CRADLE we are registered with JustGiving and Facebook Donate so just select us as your charity of choice.
We are also registered with Amazon Smile where at no cost to you via your purchases, Amazon donate to CRADLE from the sale, follow the link below to register:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1190761-0
You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn
Registered Charity 1190761 (England & Wales)
By making a financial donation to CRADLE you are able to make sure nobody ever feels alone when pregnancy doesn’t go to plan, and that the right support is available when pregnancy isn’t part of the plan.
Your financial contribution will bring change to the lives of those who are receiving or awaiting medical care and to allow CRADLE to provide support for the days, weeks, months and often years that follow grief trauma and isolation.
Your donation will support healthcare professionals by providing them with CRADLE resources, allowing them to give that little bit extra during care. The funds will also allow them to design and deliver new projects and resources that aim to enhance the way care is provided.
As a small charity, they are able to make a big impact. Your donation could help them to:
- Provide comfort bags to many different departments in hospitals across the UK.
- Provide Student Nurses, Student Midwives and all other Students who will provide pregnancy related care with additional training and tools around early pregnancy loss.
- Fund a CRADLE ‘little things’ campaign – allowing them to make tangible differences to services provided.
- Fund one of their research projects in the fight for improvements across the community.
There are many other ways you can get involved from setting up your own fundraising activity or event to campaigning for donations of toiletries, running one of their community groups or becoming one of their trusted ambassadors.
For more information on the opportunities, please email info@cradlecharity.org
BECAUSE EVERY PREGNANCY MATTERS
