- The Tiny Miracles Foundation
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- After A Loss
After A Loss
TTMF’s experienced mentors who have suffered a loss can provide support to bereaved families. We also connect you to local and online resources for assistance.
Please follow up with organizations to obtain the most current information about their group offerings.
TTMF Bereavement Support Services
TTMF has parent mentors who have personally suffered the loss of a child and have the unique ability to provide comfort and understanding to bereaved parents. Our volunteers are trained mentors who specialize in supporting other families. If you, a family member, or a friend has experienced the loss of a premature baby, please contact us by calling the office at (203)202-9714 or emailing us at info@ttmf.org and we will send you our support package. You can also connect with a parent support mentor by clicking the button above.
TTMF also offers referrals to local and online bereavement support services, groups, and blogs, in addition to memory portrait artists, therapists, burial support services, and other bereavement resources. Please keep scrolling to view these services. Our bereavement support packages are located at each hospital. The staff at the NICU provide TTMF Support information to any parent who experienced the loss of their baby.
Local Bereavement Sources
The Compassionate Friends
The Compassionate Friends assists families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age, and to provide information to help others be supportive. They have local chapters in Bridgeport, Stamford, and Danbury (in addition to six other locations throughout the state of CT) and hold monthly meetings.
Hope After Loss
Hope After Loss is dedicated to comforting those who grieve the loss of a pregnancy or newborn child, offering monthly peer-to-peer support group meetings throughout seven cities across Connecticut. Hope After Loss also hosts online messaging boards in a supportive, private email community that allows you to find another parent with a similar loss to your own. See their website for more details and schedules.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hopeafterloss/
Contact: christinam@hopeafterloss.org, 203-782-4330
Center for HOPE, Family Centers Darien
http://www.familycenters.org/Center-for-HOPE
590 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820
(203) 655-0547
Part of Family Centers, the Center for HOPE is a private, nonprofit organization offering education and human services to children, adults and families in Fairfield County. All counseling, support and education services are facilitated by specially-trained professionals in an atmosphere of hope and renewal.
Their Parental Bereavement Group for the loss of a child and Miscarriage and Infant Loss Support Group meet regularly in Darien. Center for HOPE also offers support groups for children experiencing the loss of a sibling or parent through The Den for Grieving Kids.
Online Bereavement Support
March of Dimes: Loss and Grief
https://www.marchofdimes.org/complications/loss-and-grief.aspx
Tips on how to deal with your grief, how to cope with family and friends as you grieve and what you can do to remember your baby.
CLIMB: Center for Loss in Multiple Birth, Inc.
CLIMB consists of parents throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and beyond who have experienced the death of one or more, both or all of their twins or higher multiples at any time from conception through birth, infancy and childhood.
Share: Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc.
Share’s mission is to serve those whose lives are touched by the tragic death of a baby through pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life. They provide support toward positive resolution of grief experienced at the time of, or following the death of a baby. This support encompasses emotional, physical,
spiritual, and social healing, as well as sustaining the family unit.
An Unexpected Family Outing - Dads Grieve Too
https://unexpectedfamilyouting.com/2018/12/18/dads-grieve-too-and-they-need-other-grieving-dads/
Website includes resources specifically for grieving fathers.
M.I.S.S. Foundation
https://www.missfoundation.org
The MISS Foundation is a nonprofit volunteer-based organization committed to providing crisis support and long-term aid to families after the death of a child from any cause.
Star Legacy Foundation
https://starlegacyfoundation.org/support-groups/
Star Legacy Foundation provides live, interactive, online support groups for families who have experienced a perinatal loss and for individuals experiencing a pregnancy after a loss. Groups are facilitated by a trained mental health professional. Support groups are held monthly and include: Bereaved Parent Group, Pregnancy After Loss Group, Dad’s Greif Discussion Group, Grandparent’s Group, Parenting After a Loss Group, and Coping with Infant Death.
Sad Dads Club
Rob, Chris, and Jay are three friends living in Maine who, along with their wives, endured stillbirths.
If you are suffering from the grief of a stillborn child, please know that you’re not alone and that we’re here to help by creating a safe, open, and supportive space.
Recover From Grief
http://www.recover-from-grief.com/parents-grief.html
This general grief website offers a special section on Parent Grief, as well as a comprehensive look at the four major theories around the Stages of Grief.
Still Standing Magazine
Founded in 2012, Still Standing Magazine has been the world’s leading online voice in breaking the silence on child loss – from conception to adulthood, and infertility. We share stories from around the world of writers surviving the aftermath of loss and grief – and include information on how others can help.
This is a page for all grieving parents. If you grieve the loss of your child, no matter the circumstances, you are welcome here.
HealGrief.org
HealGrief.org is a social support network that is there when everyone else goes away, and the real grieving begins. Everything we do is inspired by our core belief that no one should ever grieve alone. HealGrief.org provides the tools and resources to guide one’s journey with grief into a healthy personal growth.
Return to Zero: H.O.P.E.
Return to Zero: H.O.P.E supports families who have experienced miscarriage, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), other types of pregnancy loss (ectopic pregnancy, blighted ovum, molar pregnancy), neonatal death, infant death, and toddler death. As you walk the path of grief and healing, we’re here for you, along with a community of parents a few steps ahead in the process. Return to Zero: H.O.P.E provides to know what to expect: considerations for your time in the hospital, the differences between healthy and unhealthy grief, and suggestions to lessen regrets and additional trauma.
Still Mothers
Still Mothers brings resources to all mothers who feel lost and left behind in a community of families, because their only child(ren) has died.
Georgetown University's School of Nursing
“Emotional Healing After a Miscarriage for Women, Partners, Family, and Friends”
This resource is meant to help women and those around them who have experienced a miscarriage navigate through the emotional healing and relationship recovery process. The resource goes into detail about how pregnancy loss can affect women, their partners, families, and friends.
M.E.N.D. (Mommies Enduring Neonatal Death)
https://www.mend.org/nationwide-online-support-group
M.E.N.D is here to provide hope and healing through your journey after the loos of your baby. M.E.N.D. is a Christian, non-profit organization that reaches out to families who have suffered the loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. We publish a free bi-monthly magazine, hold commemorative ceremonies, and host a variety of support groups. A National Online Support Group is offered on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 9:00 pm CST (10 pm EST).
Burial Support & Specialty Services
The Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation
https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org
Providing the gift of remembrance portraits to parents experiencing the death of a baby.
When a baby dies, the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS) gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart to families overcome by grief and pain. NILMDTS administer a network of nearly 3,000 volunteer professional photographers, including 15 in Connecticut. At a family’s request, a NILMDTS Affiliated Photographer will come to your hospital and conduct a sensitive and private portrait session. The portraits are then professionally retouched and presented to the family on an archival DVD or CD that can be used to print portraits of their cherished baby. These services are offered at no cost and allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives.
Hope After Loss
https://www.hopeafterloss.org/burial-cremation
Our Burial and Cremation Assistance program provides financial assistance to low-income parents in Connecticut who cannot afford a burial or cremation following the loss of a pregnancy or infant. Families are referred to us from Connecticut hospitals and medical practices. Please contact us to learn how we can help.
NICU Helping Hands: The Angel Gown Program
NICU Helping Hands’ Angel Gown® Program began in 2013 because we recognized there was an overwhelming need for better support for families who lost a baby. Our Angel Gown® Program provides comfort for bereaved families through the gift of a beautiful custom made gown for final photos and for burial services.
Premature Baby Bereavement Gowns
https://dying.lovetoknow.com/Baby_Bereavement_Gowns
Both micro-preemie (1-3 pounds) and preemie (4-7 pounds) sizes are available.
Facebook Groups
PALS - Pregnancy After Loss Support
Our Philosophy
Here at PALS private group we hope to help women pregnant again after a loss choose hope over fear while nurturing their grief. In effort to do this we try our best to create a supportive open and welcoming community on our public and private Facebook pages and groups. Therefore we strive to have our group be a place where differences in philosophies, beliefs, opinions, and parenting styles are welcomed and respected.
SHARE Bereaved Families Peer Support
All of us at Share welcome you to our closed group for families whose lives have been touched by the tragic death of a baby through early pregnancy loss, stillbirth or in the first few months of life. We are sorry you have a reason to be here, but we hope you find much comfort, hope and healing through your membership in this group.
First Candle Miscarriage Support Group
Online support group forum for parents and loved ones who have experienced the death of a baby due to miscarriage (up to 20 weeks gestation). First Candle also offers a stillbirth and a SIDS/SUID support group on Facebook.
Footprints on the Heart, Inc.
Footprints on the Heart’s mission is to provide healing, ongoing support, prayer, and encouragement to families facing the loss of a baby in the first two years of life.
Blogs & Other Publications
Through the Heart
www.throughtheheart.org
Pregnancy loss support and education
Faces of Loss
Putting a face on miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss. Faces of Loss, Faces of Hope is a place for us to come together and share our stories and our faces with others who may be looking for reassurance that they are not alone.
Where Heartbreak Meets Hope
Healing Footprints
http://www.healingfootprints.com
Non profit organization established to support families who have experienced infant death.
Reconceiving Loss Magazine
https://reconceivingloss.com/magazine/
A public magazine featuring the true stories of pregnancy and baby loss from our readers, including essays, videos, music, art and poetry
Individual Support in Fairfield County
The Perinatal Wellness Institute
Elisabeth Schneider, LMFT
203-921-6559
Private practice in Fairfield, CT with therapist who specializes in perinatal loss.
Westport Family Counseling
www.westportfamilycounseling.org
Carolyn Yates, LMFT
203-227-4555
Specializes in working with families that have suffered the loss of a child through miscarriage or stillbirth.
