Nicola Welsh

Having experienced the loss of my middle son when just 3 weeks old, I understand first hand the heartbreak and devastation felt when a much loved and wanted baby dies. I wasn’t made aware of Held In Our Hearts when Theo died and it wasn’t until 2009 after the birth of my third son that I got in contact. I wanted to make sure families received the best care and established a working group at St Johns and a trained as a befriender. My involvement grew from there and in December 2014 I left teaching to become the Chief Executive. I am extremely passionate about providing the best bereavement support to families at the worst of times. Everything we do is about providing bespoke support via monthly meetings, counselling and befriending which makes our charity one of a kind. It is person centred and we are guided by the families. I am on various working groups within NHS Lothian and Scottish Government making sure the parents voice is always heard. I feel very privileged to meet with families and hear about their precious and much loved baby and it is an honour to run such a long standing community charity.