Edinburgh, Scotland – Local baby loss charity, Held In Our Hearts launches ‘It Takes 2, It Takes You’ challenge. Friends and families are pairing up to complete partner yoga poses to raise vital funds to support the bereaved parents the charity provides compassionate care for.

With COVID restrictions lifting, Held In Our Hearts wanted to explore a fun and unique fundraising challenge which was inclusive to all and encouraged people to get together, laugh and improve their well-being – whilst raising awareness and much needed funds towards their counselling and peer support services, which are often a life-line to bereaved parents.

In 2021, Held In Our Hearts provided 1,200 counselling sessions and they anticipate the need in 2022 to be even greater. A recent study highlighted that 83% of respondents who have used their services felt less isolated and 72% said it helped them understand the effects of loss. Baby loss can affect anyone at any time and Held in Our Hearts believe that free, compassionate, specialist baby loss care and support should
be available to all.

Julia Hale benefited from their bereavement support after the loss of her little boy Caius, and said: “At 35 weeks pregnant I heard those dreadful words: “I’m sorry, there’s no heartbeat”. My world crashed around me as I began to process the fact that our baby wouldn’t be coming home. After a quick and intense labour, our perfect boy was placed into my arms in a room full of silent tears. The first few weeks, I was heavily in denial. I spoke of Caius and the birth so factually, the depth of my loss was too big to bear. I had a 3 year old who had just lost the brother he was so excited to meet, who was so proud of him and wanted to tell everyone about his baby who is dead. I held it together and swallowed the tears, time and time again.

Eventually, I broke. I began suffering from severe anxiety, I didn’t recognise myself anymore. I had attended a couple of befriending support groups with Held In Our Hearts and it was the only place I felt normal, so I reached out to them to seek counselling. I was nervous the first time I walked through the door, I was always able to talk about Caius, but in this factual, almost clinical way. But my counsellor was amazing. She listened to me and I felt so validated for the first time. It took some weeks for me to let the barriers down fully, eventually I let myself cry, and the tears didn’t stop.

I was so fortunate to have counselling for almost 2 years. Grief had changed me, and I didn’t know how to be me anymore, but with the counsellor’s support, I put myself back together. She supported me as I
eventually returned to work, moved house and navigated life trying to function normally again. It’s 6 years since Caius was born, and life as I knew it crumbled. I will always miss him, but I am now accepting of the life I have and I feel immense pride in the family I have and the legacy Caius leaves with us. I have a new career, which I don’t know if I would have embarked on without the confidence that I gained in my abilities through counselling. Held In Our Hearts helped me rebuild my life brick by brick, and their support has helped my marriage, my self-belief as a mother, my career and my relationship with myself. Without this counselling from Held In Our Hearts, I honestly don’t know where I would be.”

Nicola Welsh, Chief Executive at Held In Our Hearts explains the importance of specialist baby loss support: “The loss of a baby causes unimaginable pain and devastation. Families mourn not only the physical loss of their baby but the future that they had planned. In that moment, their life has changed forever, and they cannot imagine a life beyond the grief. Our counsellors support parents in the grieving process and allow them to explore their thoughts and feelings in a safe place. For many this is a lifeline at a dark time in their life and helps families feel more hopeful about the future and less alone.

We hope our ‘It Takes 2, It Takes You’ challenge allows friends and family to get involved and raise funds, whilst having fun, so we can make sure no one is alone in their grief when their precious baby
dies.” It Takes Two fundraising page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ittakes2ittakesyou?invite=true

The challenge can be found and followed on any of the charity’s social media pages.