Freeflow: Supporting Mental Health in Pregnancy After Loss

Amneet Graham

Chair and Founder, Willow’s Rainbow Box (1186779)

@willowsrainbowbox

What we know

Pregnancy after loss is often an anxious journey for families. A meta-analysis identified “elevated anxiety and depression levels during pregnancies following perinatal loss.” It can be a time of simultaneous feelings of grief, joy and anticipation. The whole family can experience a wide variety of emotions. The journey has its own unique challenges and impacts on mental health.

From our own engagement, we know that when talking about the impact of pregnancy after loss on mental health, families have reported:

“In all honesty, I was suicidal at some points.”

“I didn’t cope well at all.”

“I had a mental health crisis when my son was born as I still believed I’d lose him.”

“I stayed in a state of survival the whole time and into postpartum.”

“I was re-living trauma on a daily basis.”

Practical advice for families

Families going through pregnancy after loss need targeted support for this journey. Willow’s Rainbow Box was created to focus on supporting mental health and wellbeing during this challenging time in a family’s life. The charity offers free ‘toolboxes’ to families in England, containing a range of creative and informative resources suitable for use by the person giving birth, as a couple, by dads and other parents, or even with wider family members.

• An A5 journal and pen.
• A rainbow print.
• Information leaflets from other charities highlighting important campaigns (currently contains Kicks Count Ditch the Doppler campaign and Action on Postpartum Psychosis information).
• A mood tracker.
• ‘Circle of control’ template.
• An adult colouring sheet with pencils.
• Signposting for the charity’s resource for dads and other parents.
• Hope and support flashcards (containing positive affirmations and mindfulness techniques).
• A resource for families to use with healthcare professionals to show them it’s a pregnancy after loss and prevent needing to repeat their story.
• Crochet kit.

The idea behind the resource is to provide families with an opportunity to identify their feelings, work through their emotions and to provide them with mindful distractions to help them through the pregnancy after loss journey. We know from research that mindfulness can be a great tool to help reduce perceived stress in families going through recurrent pregnancy loss.

From those who provided feedback for the boxes, 66.7% rated them as a ‘5’ (most helpful) and 33.3% rated them as a ‘4’. Some of the recipients said:

‘It feels very validating that there is an organisation out there specifically for pregnancy after loss, which can be so anxiety-inducing.”

“The box is super and really helps the community.”

“On bad days, the affirmations and colouring/journaling really helped me.”

“It gave me hope and reminded me I’m not alone.”

There’s also something very powerful about holding a community. Creating space specifically for pregnancy after loss gives families a placeto feel safe, comfortable and supported. Willow’s Rainbow Box also facilitate peer support spaces for people in their first trimester of pregnancy after loss, which can be an incredibly isolating time. Willow’s Rainbow Box acknowledge that it’s important to understand experiences of loss to help understand how to best support in the next pregnancy. Through a series of baby loss mini-series, the charity hold space for diverse communities to share their stories of loss and pregnancy after loss.

Families can check out the charity’s annual Rainbow Baby Week (16th – 22nd August) to read more about pregnancy after loss and support available to them.

For midwives and birth workers:

Willow’s Rainbow Box ‘tool’ boxes are slowly making their way into some NHS Trusts across England. The offer of boxes in hospitals improves inclusion and accessibility and can help support the mental health of many more families from a diverse range of communities.  A bereavement midwife reported:

“Having the boxes at our trust means rather than signposting families to the website, we can provide families with a box straight away.

This removes barriers to families accessing a box such as no access to the internet, language barriers etc. It also means there is no delay to families being able to use the resources in the box while they wait for a box to be posted to them.”

Midwives and birth workers can check out the charity’s annual Rainbow Baby Week (16th – 22nd August) to read more about pregnancy after loss, key issues and support available for families in their care. Trusts can also join the charity’s waiting list for stock by emailing hello@willowsrainbowbox.co.uk

Real Life Story

Please see the link below for a real-life story shared by Willow’s Rainbow Box.