Hope After Loss organizes support groups for pregnancy and infant loss, and they also spread awareness of issues facing the loss community of parents. I have been to several of the support groups myself, and it has helped me to understand that I am not alone in my suffering. This community is here, and Hope After Loss provides an interface among the community as well as a platform to share our needs of the community to those outside the community. This includes the message of the need for empathetic and thorough care from medical providers as well as the need for consideration from those outside the community in general. Also, spreading recognition of the issues of pregnancy and infant loss to the world, including the fact that anyone can lose a baby, and babies are lost at a significant rate throughout the world and the rate of pregnancy and infant loss in the US is greater than other several countries.
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Hope after loss, is an amazingly helpful nonprofit organization. They financially help loss parents do the most unbelievable task, they’ve ever been forced to do, having to bury or cremate their babies. Hope After loss, offers resources to loss parents, of loss parent support groups, they also help educate people helping them learn about pregnancy and infant loss. They want to be able to share and educate others, to help make them aware about pregnancy and infant loss, that it actually happens so more often, than everyone thinks it does. The majority of staff and volunteers, have been through this and know exactly how hard it is. These men and women truly care, they know it hurts, they know it stays with you forever and they just want to make things a little easier for new loss parents.
This is truly a very worthy cause, they give 100% each and every day, doing their best to help others. If you are looking for a place to donate too, this is it, you have found it and they could use every penny you are willing to give, to be able to help loss parents to the best of their ability. They also have someone there, who is educated in mental health and is a therapist . I cannot say enough great things, about Hope After Loss.
We lost our son Connor 2/9/09. My husband and I started going to Hope after Loss around the due date that summer. We found the support group to be very helpful. It was comforting knowing we are not alone. We continued to go for years every month. We then became more involved with the Hope as a memorial to Connor. Hope has helped many families dealing with the grief of losing the baby. To it nice to know at the worst time in your life you are not alone and people know how you feel.
8 years ago we received the horrible news that our son was never going to be born. This is the tragic outcome of too many pregnancies, and to those of us who have found ourselves in this tragic situation we often find it difficult to explain to other people how we hurt. Yes, other people in our lives may truly feel sorry for us, but most people don’t really gain an emotional attachment to a baby until they are actually born. To the parents, however, we instantly develop a life-long emotional attachement and imagine our desires for our child’s entire future, but when it all ends before it even starts we continue that emotional attachment everyday for the rest of our lives, always with thoughts of what might have been. The biggest complaints of parents in our situation is that other people “just don’t get it”. Hope After Loss is an amazing organization full of parents just like us. We have gained so much from attending support groups early on, and even more by becoming support group facilitators ourselves and helping other parents. The most important thing about HAL to us is being with people who “get it”.
Hope After loss, formerly Hygeia, was literally my life saver after the death of my daughter. Kim and the other families that helped me grieve and learn how to keep going were such a godsend. I am very thankful for this group!
Hope After Loss has been an integral part of my healing process with both a 12 week miscarriage as well as a 38 week Stillbirth. Having a community to be a part of and feel safe talking to has and continues to be very healing. I am so grateful this organization exists!
I would not be where I am today without Hope After Loss. The peer to peer model of support groups saved me when my daughter was stillborn 12 years ago. The people in this organization listened to me talk about things no one else wanted to hear- how truly hard it is to lose a baby. They understand that each loss is its own journey, that no two losses are alike, that no two losses can be compared, and that Hope means something different to everyone. I am so thankful they were there for me when I needed them most. This is why I now give back to Hope After Loss as a member of the Board of Directors.
I wish I would've known about this organization sooner. It is an honor to help bereaved parents as they learn to live after losing a child.
Very thankful that this organization exists as it was a key component of learning to be "ok" after my loss. I discovered Hope After Loss after delivering my stillborn son back in February 2016. It's not a community you want to be a part of but the sad truth is that many families face loss and its important for their to be support systems out there. Hope After Loss helps the community whether its through mental support, financial support or education. Its important they be able to continue what they do and I'm glad that I found them and will continue to support them going forward. I've recommended this organization or provided links to their content on multiple occasions following my loss. Thank you Hope After Loss for all you do.
What this orginization does for the pregnancy and infant loss community in Connecticut Connecticut means so much. My hope is that other states follow suit so these bereaved parents no longer have to suffer alone, in silence.
I went to my first Hygeia meeting 1 week after my son was stillborn Feb 2008. I had lots of family and friends support. But still felt alone. Hygeia helped me find my new normal. They helped me thru the darkest time in my life and then thru a subsequent pregnancy which we were blessed with a beautiful healthy girl in March of 2011. I will always be greatful to Hygeia for all they have done for me. And for the wonderful friendships I have made.
I discovered The Hygeia Foundation after I delivered a stillborn baby girl on December 31, 2010. It was truly the most horrible time in my life. Even though I had support of friends and family, I felt completely alone and isolated. How could anyone even possibly understand what I was going through? With The Hygeia Foundation, I found a place where I could eventually find my new normal. Where I could talk to other women and families who have gone through tragedies like mine – people who I could relate to. Women who know about sheer anguish, and fear, and anger, and desperation. I now volunteer my time to this outstanding organization, and I encourage you to visit www.hygeiafoundation.org for more information about all of the services they offer. You do not have to go through this alone. The Hygiea Foundation is here to help.
Prior to giving birth to my beautiful twins, I lost four babies. The Hygeia Foundation helped me to move through the grieving process, find the best way to tell the twins about their brothers and sisters in Heaven, and find ways to honor my babies by helping others in need.
I experienced a miscarriage during my first pregnancy several years ago. The days, weeks, and months after my loss I struggled to find any comfort from friends and family that were doing their best to offer me support. I felt very alone and confused. A few years later I heard about a local support group with Hygeia in Guilford. I was so thankful to learn that there was a place families could go to talk freely about how this ordeal had affected their lives. Nobody understands like somebody that has been through it. I have since become a volunteer and help to facilitate the monthly support meetings. I have seen first-hand the incredible difference it makes to these families to come each month to ask advice, cry, vent, listen to others, and sometimes to just not feel so alone. I am so thankful that this wonderful organization exists.
I found the Hygeia Foundation through a friend of mine who had become part of the organization after she had lost her son just days after birth. Once we had a stillborn daughter (at 38 weeks) 7 years ago, I turned to this same friend for comfort and support and in turn met the amazing group of women who were a part of Hygeia along with Dr. Berman. Without this support network of families who have also lost babies I don't know how we would have gotten through those darkest days. When you experience a loss so sudden, tragic and life changing there are only those who have gone through the same experience that can really understand your pain. My bond with the Hygeia Foundation has continued all these years now that I am able to give back and help provide support to others who have lost by volunteering my time as a support group facilitator.
I learned about Dr. Berman and the Hygeia Foundation when we had a stillborn daughter, Emily, almost 9 years ago. It was horrific, unexpected and the worst experience I've ever had--me and my family still think about her every day. At the time, the absolute only way I knew I'd ever feel better about this tragedy, would be to take action in her honor and help others who had lost a child to miscarriage or stillbirth. Hygeia has grown significantly since then and offers support groups, assistance to the medical community and a facility in Woodbridge, CT. Hygeia's community and web of support saw me through my grief and continues to support us and others today.
I found Hygeia after I lost my son in December 2009. I started attending support groups for my loss and hte facilitators were great as they have also experienced a loss. They helped me get through the first year on top of a subsequent pregnancy during that year. I was proud to walk in memory of my son at their Footprints to Remember Walk for the last two years. I also went through training to become a facilitator this year to help those suffering a loss. They were there for me and I want to be there for others.
I found Hygeia when putting together a walk for pregnancy loss in my area of CT. I was so impressed with their executive director and her plans for their first walk for pregnancy loss (Walk To Remember - Footprints on the Heart) that I decided to let go of my plans and join them with theirs. I never regretted it. I eventually joined their parenting board and and in training to be a facilitator for their support group meetings. Having had two pregnancy losses myself - one at 11 weeks and one at 38 weeks - I have always found Hygeia to be supportive and helpful to those in need. They are an amazing organization with so much heart.
You can read our story here: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/01/05/news/metro/b1-wohygeialoss.txt
I have volunteered for the Hygeia Foundation for many years, since my twin sons were stillborn. Hygeia supports families who grieve the loss of a pregnancy or newborn. I have found so much comfort and hope through my work with Hygeia. I don't think I could have survived the loss of my twins (and my two miscarriages) without them. They provide online support, hold support groups in three locations in Connecticut, and provide phone and email support. They also have a lending library and a burial fund for families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their child. Hygeia holds the "Footprints On Our Hearts Walk To Remember" in October every year. More information about Hygeia can be found at www.hygeiafoundation.org