Sands offers support and information to families of babies who die before, during or soon after birth. This includes through miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR (termination for medical reasons) and neonatal deaths. Sands are a national charity with small groups based around the country. North Herts has had a Sands group for over 20 years offering support to bereaved parents in North Hertfordshire and Stevenage.

Monthly Meetings

Our monthly support meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month in Stevenage. Please click on the Support Meetings tab at the top of the page for information on when and where the next meeting is to be held. 

Befriending

A befriender is a bereaved parent who offers support to other bereaved parents in the local area.  They have all gone through the SANDS Befriender training programme.  We offer support via telephone, email and our Facebook group. Please see the left of this page for all our contact deatils. Our current Befrienders at North Herts Sands are Emma, Joe and Lynsey.  

Family Support Group

Our family group meets on Sundays in Hitchin approximately quarterly. The group is primarily aimed at enabling children to socialise with other children who have had similar experiences, and to enable parents to discuss parenting issues. A befriender will sometimes be present if you need further support but we will always put you in touch with them if you choose.

If you would like more information about the family group please email Cathy Beach

Book of Remembrance

A book of remembrance is held in St Luke's Chapel on the 4th floor of the Lister Hospital.  It contains short messages from parents and loved ones on their baby's special day. Please see the tab at the top of the page for more information.

Improving Bereavement Care

We are working closely with midwives to bring about improvements in antenatal care, and postnatal care for bereaved parents. We have a wonderful Hospital Liaison, Katiso, who works hard to develop our relationship with the staff at Lister Hospital.  

If there is anything else you would like to know about us, please use the contact details on the left and we will get back to you.

If you would like to contact one of our befrienders, please call us on
07493 172116 and leave a message

You can also email us at northherts@sandsvolunteer.org.uk or fill in the form below. Alternatively, get in touch by posting or messaging us through our Facebook group.

We are volunteers but we will get back to you as soon as possible.

You can also call the national Sands helpline on 0808 164 3332. The helpline is open
Mon-Fri 9.30am-5.30pm,
plus Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6-10pm.

Calls are free from landlines and mobiles.