We are a Scottish charity providing baby loss counselling and peer support to families, with over 40 years’ experience of offering compassionate bereavement care in the community.
We provide baby loss counselling and peer support to bereaved families. The majority of staff are bereaved parents themselves, so through shared, lived experience, we provide compassion and support to each other and connect through our care for our families and each other. Our families are the heart of everything that we do. All our support is free, personal to each family and for as long as is needed. Our support includes counselling, one to one befriending, group support and events.
We are in a period of growth, having expanded the team from 4 to 17 over the last 8 years and, most recently, extending our geographical reach from Edinburgh and the Lothians to Fife, Forth Valley and most recently the Highlands.
We are recruiting for a part-time Hospital to Home Project Coordinator, as part of a 1-year funded project to expand our Hospital to Home service to new areas following the initial Pilot which has been running in NHS Lothians since January 2022. Hospital to Home Care is an opt out service which supports families to transition from the hospital setting to being back in the community. 6-8 sessions are offered, to support and guide families in the very early days of their loss, enhancing existing community services to provide long term peer bereavement support.
We will work alongside NHS colleagues to provide a more comprehensive and cohesive transition from the hospital to home setting. By being able to offer longer term support, through the Hospital to Home Service and beyond through our peer support and counselling services, we will be able to identify emerging issues associated with complicated grief and trauma early so additional support such as counselling can be arranged. This will reduce the isolation and loneliness that bereaved parents feel, improving family’s long term mental and physical wellbeing and their ability to grieve with empathic support in place in the community.
We have fully funded a full time PhD student in partnership with Napier University who is working alongside our Pilot project. This will enable us to evidence the benefits that this early intervention can have.
Please email your CV and covering letter direct to GemmaN@heldinourhearts.org.uk
Closing date: 10pm on Sunday 19th November with interviews taking place week commencing 4th December 2023.