Sands is the UK’s leading pregnancy and baby loss charity. We are here to support everyone touched by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby. Always.

We’re creating a community of compassionate and lifesaving changemakers, whose voices inspire change and turn understanding into action.

Every day in the UK, 13 babies die shortly before, during or soon after birth. At least 1 in 6 of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Thousands of parents and families are experiencing the heartbreak of pregnancy and baby loss every year in the UK.

Too often, the reasons for pregnancy and baby losses are not fully understood, and this lack of understanding makes it harder to prevent future tragedies. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

For more than 40 years, Sands has provided a safe, understanding and caring community for anyone touched by pregnancy or baby loss. We can help, whether your loss happened recently or long ago.

Sands offers many types of support, including our free, confidential telephone helpline, email support, and online group sessions. We have a UK-wide network of local groups offering peer-support in the community, social media groups helping people connect wherever they are, and free resources for partners, siblings, grandparents, and wider family and friends.

Sands works to give healthcare professionals, trusts and health boards with the training, tools and support they need to provide excellent bereavement care, to ensure that every bereaved parent and family receives the best possible care wherever they are in the UK.

Sands supports anyone who has been affected by pregnancy or baby loss. Sands Befrienders are an essential part of the support that Sands offers, providing group peer support—either face to face or online—for anyone affected by loss across the United Kingdom.

As a bereaved parent, or someone with experience of baby and pregnancy loss, you will know first-hand how isolating this can be. Sands Befrienders have the ability to hold a welcoming and safe space for those who find themselves in a similar situation. We know from talking to bereaved families that the support received from Sands Befrienders is invaluable and can be life‑changing.

Halifax & Huddersfield Sands are in need of more befrienders to ensure they can continue to provide support to those affected by baby loss.

• Application form required
• References required
• Other

• 18+

To have lived experience of being a bereaved parent. At least 12 months should have elapsed since your own bereavement.