Supporting Families Through Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death
Professional Development in Grief-Informed Care
A live online education series in grief- and trauma-informed perinatal bereavement care.
Pregnancy loss and infant death bring profound emotional, physical and relational impacts for families. The care they receive during this time can shape how they experience grief, healing and ongoing connection with their baby.
This professional development series supports practitioners to:
- Deepen grief literacy
- Strengthen communication skills
- Integrate a trauma-aware companioning approach
- Offer consistent, compassionate & personalised bereavement care
- Support themselves in sustainable working
Who This Workshop Is For
This programme is designed for professionals who support individuals and families navigating pregnancy loss of any kind, stillbirth, neonatal death and SUDI.
Pregnancy loss includes but is not limited to: failed IVF/surrogacy, infertility, abortion, miscarriage, ToPFA.
It is suitable for those working across healthcare, therapeutic, community and wellbeing settings, including:
- Midwives, doulas and perinatal practitioners
- Health visitors
- Nurses working in emergency, neonatal, paediatric, gynaecology or community settings
- Doctors working in obstetrics & gynaecology and emergency care
- General Practitioners and all GP practice staff
- Perinatal mental health practitioners
- Paramedics and ambulance crews
- Counsellors and psychotherapists
- Social workers and family support practitioners
- Members of the police force & armed forces
- Nursing, midwifery, medical and allied health students
- Chaplaincy and pastoral care providers
- Charity and volunteer sector staff working in bereavement support
- Yoga teachers, retreat facilitators and other wellbeing professionals working with women
All are welcome
No prior specialist bereavement experience or qualification is required. The training is accessible to practitioners at all stages of their professional journey.
Book your space for September 2026
Programme Overview
This professional development series integrates theoretical learning, reflective practice, applied discussion and practices supportive to professional sustainability.
Participants explore:
- Contemporary understandings of grief and mourning in the context of pregnancy loss and infant death
- A companioning approach to perinatal bereavement care
- Skilled and compassionate communication during acute and ongoing loss
- Cultural, social and systemic influences on grief and care
- Practical ways to strengthen support for bereaved families
- The role of ritual, remembrance and meaning-making after loss
- Postpartum recovery following pregnancy loss and its place within bereavement care
- Reflective practice, personal awareness and professional sustainability when working alongside grief
- Integration of learning — bringing it into everyday practice
Weekly topic outline
- Week 1: Introduction & Grief Literacy
- Week 2: The Companioning Philosophy
- Week 3: Strengthening Support
- Week 4: Ritual & Ceremony across cultures & Integration
All live sessions will be recorded.
Integration & weekly homework
These are varied practices to help deepen your insights and support your ongoing personal and professional development.
*Accreditation and formal CEU approval are in progress.
**Learning outcomes document is available for professionals seeking to evidence continuing professional development.
All live sessions will be recorded.
Book your space for September 2026
Alignment with the UK National Bereavement Care Pathway
The UK National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) has been developed by the pregnancy and baby loss charity Sands in partnership with the Miscarriage Association, Bliss, Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC), the Lullaby Trust, Royal College of Midwives, and other key organisations to ensure that all bereaved parents and families receive consistently high-quality, compassionate and personalised care.
This programme aligns with the following NBCP standards:
- Bereavement Care Training
- Emotional & Mental Health Assessment & Referral
- Bereavement Care Lead
- Informed Choices
- Opportunities to Make Memories
- Support & Resources for Healthcare Staff
This training is also relevant for wellbeing and therapeutic practitioners who do, or may, support individuals and families living with loss.
Book your space for September 2026Structure & Pricing
OnlineUS$150
Duration: 4 weeks, 2 hours/week (8 hours total)
Dates
September 8, 15, 22, 29 | Tuesdays
10AM – 12PM (BST/UTC+1)
Incase you’re not able to make the live online workshop series, all sessions will be recorded and available for one month after each session.
Programme Facilitator
Samantha Leggett, MPH, RN
Sam is the founder of The Tomorrow House and a specialist educator in grief-informed and trauma-aware care. She is a UK-registered nurse with a Master’s degree in Public Health (Maternal Health), and brings over three decades of global clinical, research and educational experience to her work.
Sam is a Mum of 3 and her professional background spans maternal and child health, bereavement support and professional education across clinical and community settings.
Her approach is evidence-informed and relational, shaped by both extensive clinical practice and lived experience of loss. Drawing on additional training in yoga and wisdom traditions, she incorporates grounded nervous system awareness and reflective inquiry to support sustainable, attuned care.
Sam creates structured yet nurturing learning environments where connection, meaningful dialogue, depth of reflection and professional growth are thoughtfully held.
For a fuller overview of Sam’s background and philosophy, read more here.
Book your space for September 2026Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the WorkshopsAccreditation and formal CEU approval are in progress. A comprehensive learning outcomes document is available on request so you can evidence continuing professional development with your regulatory body or employer.
This programme is for any professional who supports people and families through pregnancy loss, stillbirth, neonatal death, or sudden unexpected death in infancy. It’s open to nurses, midwives, doctors, therapists, doulas, social workers, chaplains, and wellbeing practitioners at any career stage.
Yes. The programme is specifically designed as bereavement training for midwives working in maternity, labour ward, community, and continuity-of-care settings. It covers the clinical, emotional, and communication demands midwives face when supporting families through pregnancy loss, stillbirth, and neonatal death.
Yes. This is perinatal bereavement training for doulas, including birth doulas, postpartum doulas, and bereavement doulas. No clinical background is required, and the companioning approach is particularly well suited to the non-medical, relational role doulas hold with families.
No. The training is accessible to practitioners at all stages of their professional journey. No specialist qualification in bereavement care is required.
Yes. The programme runs on BST (UTC+1), but all live sessions are recorded, so participants in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Asia, and elsewhere can attend live or catch up within the programme window.
The companioning approach is a relational model of grief support developed by Dr. Alan Wolfelt. You can read more in his book, Understanding Your Grief. It asks the practitioner to witness and accompany the bereaved, rather than treat or fix grief. The course teaches you how to apply this in clinical and community care.
The course supports practitioners working within the standards set out in the NBCP, including Bereavement Care Training, Emotional and Mental Health Assessment and Referral, Informed Choices, Opportunities to Make Memories, and Support and Resources for Healthcare Staff.
Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a certificate of completion along with a learning outcomes document to support CPD records.
What Past Participants Have Said
Sam's workshop on holding space for pregnancy loss is an invitation to go within, to reflect on our own experiences and bring awareness to our relationship with death and holding space for grief in its many forms. This workshop is a must for birth workers. Birth work is death work, and we all encounter it.
Sam's workshop offered a heartfelt and authentic teaching in ways to create personalised rituals and how to companion others through grief and loss. This gave me fresh insight into how grief dwells in all our lives and the value of shining a light upon it in a compassionate way.
Sam's workshop was generous and nuanced. Her embodied presence is a balm to those of us supporting and experiencing grief.
Small-group spaces are limited to support depth of learning.
Book your space for September 2026