Hospital to Home information for families

My name is Lea, and I am honoured to join the Held in Our Hearts team as a Hospital to Home Worker for the Forth Valley area. While I’m new to this role, I’ve always felt like part of the Held in Our Hearts family.

It’s a real privilege for me to support families at such a difficult time, right at the beginning of their grief journey. Having walked that path myself, I know just how important it is to have kind, understanding people around you. The people who supported me when my son Luke was stillborn are forever part of his story, and I can only hope to offer that same comfort to others.

Being welcomed into families’ lives, hearing their stories, and being there for them during such an intimate time is something I truly treasure. I feel deeply honoured and willing to offer whatever support I can.

I am really looking forward to working with such an amazing team and continuing the wonderful work we do together at Held in Our Hearts.

My name is Ashley, and I will be working as part of the Hospital to Home team within Edinburgh and the Lothians. My background lies within Paediatric Nursing, having worked as a Neurology nurse at the RHCYP before becoming a mum to our two boys and girl.

Held in Our Hearts holds a special place in my heart, having offered so much kindness and support following our loss of our baby Reuben in 2019. Losing a much-loved and longed-for little one can come with a multitude of unfamiliar feelings that are difficult to navigate. The only way I can describe the initial contact with Held in Our Hearts was like having a giant hug and a place of comfort.

It is the biggest privilege, therefore, to join the Hospital to Home team, knowing that families will have the support to hold them through the emotional and practical challenges on their return home. I’m looking forward to meeting with families and having the privilege of listening to their story and sharing their little one’s journey.

My grief journey began in 1998 following the loss of our baby son Charlie. During that shocking and helpless time, we didn’t receive the support we both needed. I felt caught in the pain of my grief and found it hard to move forward and begin to process my loss. I now understand that having support available to us at that time it would have made it easier to process and cope with our loss.

Following Charlie’s death, we went on to have 4 more children, this experience throughout the following years gave me a deeper understanding of grief and hope. This inspired me to study counselling.

I have worked as a counsellor and in supportive roles within various charities. Following this, I managed my own private counselling practice, offering support to adults and young people through difficult times.

More recently I been on placement with a children’s mental health charity offering counselling and play therapy to children in primary schools.

I feel truly humbled to be part of Held in our hearts, working as a hospital to home worker providing emotional and practical support to families in their homes during those very early days after a loss of their beloved baby or child. I hope that my own experience of bereavement, together with my knowledge and skills, can gently support families in their early experience of loss.

My name is Magi and I am part of the Hospital To Home team in the Highlands.

When I saw the Held In Our Hearts jobs advertised on Facebook I thought how much easier it would have made life for me after both the loss of my little boy after a scan at 22 weeks and the earlier miscarriages.

The loss of my little boy was in 1993. I hope that by looking at me much further down the line, newly bereaved parents can see just a wee glimmer of hope that it will be ok.

Losing my son changed me as a person, I think it made me more compassionate, more accepting and less judgmental. I want to put those things to good use. And in an odd wee way it feels like I can make sense of my loss by doing this job.

I have never forgotten the raw, searing grief of those early days and being able to support families through that is something I will give my all to.

I came to Held In Our Hearts from supporting families and young people who have experienced bereavement and loss.  I found this extremely rewarding and working at Held In Our Hearts has enabled me to support families going through extremely difficult loss. 

My background is in Psychotherapy and have worked for a number of voluntary projects supporting parents, children and young people.  I have found it a privilege being able to meet and support families and being able to be part of their journey.

I feel very privileged working at Held In Our Hearts, being able to give families a voice, feel supported and listened to, ensuring that no family or parent feels isolated or alone.

I am delighted to be supporting bereaved parents and families across Tayside. I am mum to Luke and Isaac, who was born sleeping at 30 weeks’ gestation in 2007, and I am also a stepmum, foster mum, and proud granny.

Following the loss of Isaac, I volunteered with Tayside Sands from 2007 to 2020 as a Befriender and Chairperson. Having experienced baby loss myself, I understand how overwhelming those early days can be and hope to offer compassionate support as families navigate their grief, one step at a time.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, going to the theatre, travelling, playing lawn bowls, and walking my dog, Dixie.

Held In Our Hearts has been an incredible support to me and my family ever since our baby son, Alex, died aged 3 weeks in February 2018 due to a severe congenital heart defect.  When we returned home from the hospital without Alex we felt like we were the only people in the world that this had ever happened to, which was terrifying and isolating, despite the well-meaning messages and support from family and friends.  We were lucky to be put in contact with Held In Our Hearts within a few days by our Health Visitor and I remember the first phone call with Nicola as a beam of light into our blackened world, to talk to someone who had been in the same position and who knew exactly how we were feeling was incredible as we felt so alone and hopeless in our grief.

Over the turbulent years since Alex died I regularly met with my peer supporter who showed incredible understanding of my grief for Alex and also for my several early miscarriages.  I was also supported through my subsequent pandemic pregnancy by the wonderful pregnancy after-loss group.

I have been hugely privileged to be a member of the peer support team for the last 3.5 years and am excited to join the Lothians Hospital to Home team where I can continue to offer the support and understanding that was shown to me to bereaved families in their own homes in those first overwhelming weeks and months after losing their precious baby.