In this blog, Vic, founder of Evelyn’s Elephants CIC shares vital advice for Employers on how to support bereaved parents, based on her own personal story of loss of her daughter Evelyn at 15 weeks old.

Vic’s blog shares insight about how it feels to return to work after baby loss, and how businesses can create a more psychologically safe space for bereaved parents. Specifically touching on stillbirth, neonatal death, and early infant death, much of the advice will be useful for supporting any bereaved parent, regardless of the age of their child when they passed.

“Where do you find the strength to deal with that?” 

You just do. My response whenever anyone asks about my strength is that you don’t realise how much you have until you need it. 

Vic, the founder of Evelyn’s Elephant CIC, shares her story of loss and the lasting impact and legacy of her daughter, Evelyn, who passed away when she was just 15 weeks old.  Vic shares the things she learned from Evelyn during her life and in the years following, and in this blog, passes on a message of love, strength and fulfilment to other parents who have experienced the loss of a child.

Much of what I’ve learned about supporting fertility journeys in the workplace is applicable to maternal mental health, with many of these experiences for employees involving difficult experiences in conception, pregnancy and post birth. These struggles are invisible in the workplace, hidden by taboo and stigma, lacking in awareness and education about the mental health impact and, importantly, how to provide support. Workplace culture is vital, these challenges can’t be addressed simply with a ‘tick-box’ policy. Change must come with engagement and robust education to inform and empower senior leaders.

The sacred month of Ramadan is the holiest month in Islam, a deeply spiritual and meaningful month for Muslims. Safura, Managing Director and Co-Founder of The Lantern Initiative explains how fasting during Ramadan affects Muslim parents at work and explains six simple, practical adjustments the workplace can make to help Muslim parents feel valued and acknowledged.

When my wife and I decided to try to conceive and create our family, we weren’t aware of the barriers and implications we would face on the pathway to motherhood. We were merely excited for the journey. At every turn, there were barriers to overcome - assumptions, micro-aggressions, discrimination - all of which we naively were not prepared for. But the one place my psychological safety was protected, was the workplace.

Our working lives are part of a complex formula involving financial necessity, personal ambition, children’s needs and logistical practicality. The damaging ideal that “parents shouldn’t think of themselves” means that we often leave what we’re able to tolerate out of the equation. This blog explores why and how companies are taking notice of the family ecosystem and what working parents can do to consider their own work/life integration.

I have been working in perinatal mental health for over 20 years, but this had largely focused on mothers. It is only relatively recently that we started thinking about fathers too. What became clear, through my research and working with new parents who have experienced poor perinatal mental health, is that there are three situations when a father needs more information and support: to enable him to support his partner, should she become unwell; to support his own mental health; and to provide support for fathers who witness a traumatic birth involving their partner.

Neurodivergent parents - those who are autistic, have ADHD or other neurodivergent traits - experience not only the typical demands of pregnancy and new parenthood, but often additional differences. This blog by Dr. Siobhan Higgins of The Neurodiversity Practice, explores these challenges and the adjustments that may be needed at work to support neurodivergent parents.

Work can play a crucial role in supporting the mental health of new and expecting parents. In this blog, Leanne provides practical first steps for every workplace. By fostering psychological safety through open conversations, tailored support, and thoughtful policies, employers can make a significant difference in helping parents navigate the challenges of pregnancy, the postnatal period, and returning to work.

As a Clinical Psychologist and someone with lived experience of baby loss, I have both personal and professional understanding of navigating loss in the workplace. Losing a baby is a life changing and devastating experience. Workplaces play such an important role in a family’s recovery, and small, meaningful changes can and do benefit everyone.

Perinatal Occupational Therapists are part of the perinatal multi-disciplinary team and work alongside the other professions in the perinatal team including psychologists, nursery nurses, community psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, peer support workers and pharmacists. Perinatal OT’s can support you in your return to work in a number of ways, read more to find out how.

When you find out that your baby needs to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), your world shifts in an instant. Dr. Frankie Harrison, co-founder of Miracle Moon shares her personal experience, the impact it had on her professional life, and what workplaces can do to better support expecting and new parents who may go through a NICU stay.

One in seven babies born in the UK will require neonatal care. It’s not uncommon, unusual and it perplexes me why, in most workplaces, we’re not better prepared for supporting colleagues going through it. Read Pamela’s experience of navigating birth trauma, PTSD and work and what she wish she knew.

Becoming a parent is a massive life change, and when that journey includes time in the NICU or birth trauma, it can bring challenges that don’t just vanish when you go back to work. It’s so important for workplaces to recognise this and provide the right support systems. This blog by Clinical Psychologist, Dr Frankie Harrison, outlines practical steps businesses can take to create a supportive environment for their employees.

Ultimately, returning to work was the best thing I did. It gave me a sense of self again, Leanne as a woman and a person in her own right, not just as a mum. It was a distraction like no other and made me realise I wasn’t the mess that I felt I had become. And I wasn’t a bad mum either.