Bereavement Support

Bereavement support is at the core of everything we do, whether that is helping bereaved families after the death of their babies or supporting and enabling healthcare professionals to assist families in their care. We provide this through a variety of ways including our support literature, Helpline and online forum. 

The team of nine is headed by Erica Stewart who is based at the London offices, assisted by Julia Gray. Together they deal with a wide range of bereavement support calls and enquiries and are part of the consultation group revising and updating Sands support literature in conjunction with our Improving Bereavement Care team. Erica is part of the team that facilitates our befriender training programme at the initial and advanced levels as well as training sessions based on the Pregnancy Loss and the Death of a Baby: Guidelines for Professionals. Julia is Chair of the South East London Sands group. 

Patrick Wilcockson manages the national Helpline assisted by a team of three: Sarah Brewerton, Clare Birley and Lisa Brayshaw. As well as dealing with a wide range of calls on the Helpline the team also help Erica and Julia moderate our online Forum and message boards. Sarah, Clare and Lisa are also involved with our local group networks; Sarah and Clare are the Chairs of Manchester Sands and Southport and Formby Sands respectively, whilst Lisa is the West Network Convenor. 

To help keep the online Forum running smoothly Pete Brayshaw provides the administration support with Tim Gittoes and Jon Barber providing the technical expertise assisted by Sands Trustee Shirley Gittoes.