Pregnancy and Baby Loss Resource: HAND of the Bay Area
The loss of a child is one of the most painful and devastating experiences that any parent can face. It leaves parents feeling confused, overwhelmed, and shattered. It also has profound emotional, psychological, and physical effects. Coping with the loss of a baby is a difficult journey that requires support, understanding, and compassion.
HAND (Helping After Neonatal Death) of the Bay Area is a non-profit organization serving those who have experienced the loss of a baby before, during or after birth. HAND’s trained volunteers are bereaved parents who offer peer support and facilitate support groups. These groups support parents who have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), or infant death within the first year of life.
HAND of the Bay Area currently has five chapters including San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and the North Bay. I coordinate the North Bay Chapter which serves Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties. We often have East Bay parents joining our groups as well.
HAND of the Bay Area offers support in different ways:
Grief Support Meetings where parents can share their experiences of pregnancy and infant loss.
One-on-one peer support from trained HAND volunteers who are bereaved parents.
Annual Service of Remembrance during National Pregnancy Infant Loss Awareness Month (October).
Helping Hands newsletter for parents, therapists, hospitals, and health care providers.
A private Facebook Group for bereaved parents.
Information and resources for parents, families, therapists, and health care providers.
Community outreach and in-service trainings for medical providers.
HAND of the Bay Area offers a variety of support group meetings. These online and in-person meetings offer a safe place for parents to come together, share their experiences, and hear from others who understand their grief.
It takes tremendous courage to attend a first meeting, but the comforting support and understanding is often extremely helpful and healing for grieving parents who tend to feel alone.
Support group meetings are facilitated by trained volunteers. Most of these facilitators have previous experience attending HAND groups. They offer caring support and an empathetic perspective.
You may not be sure which group is right for you or you may not be ready to share your experience in a group setting.
You are not alone.
Here are the support groups that HAND of the Bay Area offers:
Grief Support Group Meetings
The Grief Support Group Meetings are for people who are grieving an early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons (TFMR) or loss in the first year of life.
Early Pregnancy Loss Support Group Meetings
The Early Pregnancy Loss Support Group is specifically for people who have suffered first trimester pregnancy losses due to miscarriage, missed miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage, chemical pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy, or molar pregnancy.
Subsequent Pregnancy Support Group Meetings
The Subsequent Pregnancy Support Group is for parents who are pregnant again after a loss or bereaved parents that are thinking of a future pregnancy.
Parenting After Loss Support Group Meetings
The Parenting After Loss Group allows bereaved parents to find comfort in forming connections and friendships with those who understand the unique position of being a parent to both living and deceased children.
Click here to learn more about HAND of the Bay Area.
If you are feeling like these groups are not right for you or you are not ready to share your experience in a group setting, you are not alone.