Bereavement Counselling
At Teddy's Wish, we believe that all parents should have access to high quality support, following the death of their baby. This is vital in making the first tentative steps towards rediscovering hope.
TURNING TRAGEDY INTO PURPOSE
We set up Teddy’s Wish to give hope, help and support to other grieving families and to fund research into the causes of baby loss. As a small, volunteer-run charity, we’re driven by doing something meaningful in Edward’s honour. Our vision is that in the future, there will be no more grieving parents of tiny, perfect babies. Together with your support and generosity, we believe that vision is achievable.
Supporting Parents
Losing a child to SIDS, stillbirth or neonatal death is devastating and traumatic. All families suffer extreme and bewildering emotions.
As our Patron Jenni Thomas so eloquently said, “there is no wrong response, everything a parent feels is the most natural of responses to the most unnatural of events”.
Following the loss of a child, parents may find themselves feeling isolated because friends and family members are unable to fully empathise and understand the pain and depth of the loss.
Grieving parents find it hard to make sense of the world around them and suffer post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Left unchecked, parents can experience ongoing and painful repercussions long after the loss of their child.
Teddy's Wish funds a counselling support service, which is free of charge to parents who have lost a baby to stillbirth (from 24 weeks), neonatal death or SIDS. The counselling sessions are for parents who are in the early months of their grief, up until 18 months post loss . All of our counsellors are BACP accredited. We also work in partnership with other baby loss charities to provide bereavement support for families to give parents the strength they need to rebuild their life again.
Celine Pearson,
Clinical Lead & Bereavement Counsellor
Celine Pearson worked in the NHS for over 35 years and has a BSc Hons in Nursing with Oncology from the Royal Marsden Hospital and Royal College of Nursing.
Over the last 20 years, she has built up extensive experience in palliative care and bereavement support for families and individuals.
Celine is a qualified counsellor, experienced at working with parents who have experienced SIDS, stillbirth and neonatal death. She also has experience working with bereaved siblings.
Paula Abramson,
Bereavement Counsellor
Paula is a qualified counsellor and training facilitator, specialising in providing bereavement support to families and training for professionals, following the death of a baby or child.
Paula worked for more than ten years in the NHS, providing support to families and professionals. She was also appointed as bereavement counsellor for the Wandsworth Child Death Overview Panel, the first role of its kind in England.
Erica Stewart,
Bereavement Counsellor
Erica is a qualified counsellor, and a training and support group facilitator. She has over 25 years specialist knowledge and experience, working for a leading charity supporting bereaved parents and families when their baby or child has died.
As part of her role as Bereavement Support and Awareness Specialist, Erica delivered Bereavement Care training to NHS health
professionals and various mental health agencies.
Erica has also worked as an advisor to writers and researchers for popular TV drama’s that portrayed the death of a baby.
Jenny Poirier,
Bereavement Counsellor
Jenny has worked as a qualified counsellor since 1995, specialising in supporting adults affected by cancer, trauma, loss and bereavement including after a baby or child has died.
She has six years' experience with a leading bereavement charity supporting families after a baby has died suddenly and unexpectedly, writing and delivering training on loss and bereavement to Health Professionals and training peer befrienders.
Previous to becoming a counsellor, Jenny was a Therapeutic Radiographer for the NHS.
