What Is the Hospital to Home Program?
Hospital to Home is a free program available across Australia that provides outreach support to bereaved parents within three months of the loss of a baby or infant. Support is available for all losses from 16 weeks gestation; this includes stillbirth, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), neonatal death, or sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI). Our living experience bereavement support workers offer tailored support based on each family’s needs. Support may be offered face-to-face where possible, as well as by phone or video. Interpreters can also be arranged if needed. Parents decide how they would like to be supported.
As a healthcare professional, you may work with families who are struggling with the complexities of grief following the loss of a baby or child. The Hospital to Home Program is a compassionate service that eases the transition by offering practical and emotional assistance and connections to community resources. This unique program is a world-first in its design and delivery, focusing on supporting parents in the critical early months of grief.
How the Hospital to Home Program Can Help
- Emotional & grief support: holding space for parents to share their experience, the many feelings that arise with loss, understand their grief, and navigate relationships after their baby has died.
- Continuing Connections: memory-making and support for continuing ways to remember and honour their baby.
- Funeral & memorial guidance: exploring options for memorial services, funerals and ways to honour their baby’s life.
- Practical and transition support: preparing for and/or attending follow-up appointments with parents when receiving medical, genetic or autopsy results. Exploring return-to-work options and accessing entitlements. Exploring self-care, including how social media can be used to help rather than hinder healing at this time.
- Sibling and extended family support: helping parents talk to and support siblings, and offering support to grandparents and other family members, including those living overseas.
- Evaluation and Impact: Evaluation of the Hospital to Home Program shows that it has made a meaningful difference to bereaved parents, with high levels of satisfaction reported. Families who have participated in the program report significant improvements in their wellbeing, which is often severely impacted after the loss of a child. The program helps combat isolation and psychological distress, which are common in the early days following the loss of a baby.
How to Refer a Family to the Hospital to Home Program
If you are working with a family who could benefit from the Hospital to Home Program, we encourage you to refer them for this personalised support. Families can be referred directly or may self-refer to the program.
We understand that each family’s needs are different, so our team will work with you to ensure that the support provided is as helpful and relevant as possible for the grieving parents.
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