Support for perinatal loss just a phone call away

Whether it is an early miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, the grief of perinatal loss can be devastating.
 
It is estimated that about 150,000 women experience the loss of a developing or new baby every year in Australia.
 
Often it is a GP who must help a patient through what can be the most profound loss they have experienced, either as a mother, father or partner.
 
However, one organisation says it is there for GPs and their patients no matter where they live in Australia – despite it being a rural-based service.
 
Rural Health Connect (RHC) has been running its Perinatal Grief and Loss program for about a year now, but in recent months its workload has ‘really built up’ says RHC Clinical Lead and psychologist, Dr Sharon Varela.
 
A key reason for that is, despite the name, the service is available to GPs to refer patients from anywhere in Australia.
 
‘We pride ourselves on being a rural health organisation, so that rural people have choices in health care, but we don’t discriminate on where people live,’ Dr Varela told newsGP.
 
Dr Varela said many of the women she sees ‘haven't even spoken to family or friends about their loss’.
 
‘Being able to have someone they can talk to in a safe space has actually helped them be able to have those conversations,’ she said.
 
‘There’s a lot of gratitude that that service has been there and available and promoted by their GP; they wouldn’t have considered it otherwise, if their GP hadn’t facilitated it.
 
‘So, getting awareness out to GPs that this service is available and is a really valuable thing to be able to offer to people who have gone through a loss like this, I think has been really important.’
 
Starting in 2018 as a telehealth service, RHC links people to psychologists over video and phone calls. 
 
Its government-funded Perinatal Grief and Loss program is a relatively newer service, offers fully bulk-billed sessions for people experiencing perinatal loss, from early miscarriage to stillbirth and neonatal death.
 
It provides culturally safe care and is designed to support priority groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, CALD communities, and people in rural and remote areas, but is available to anyone who has experienced perinatal loss, including partners and family members.
 
It now has more than 400 psychologists registered, most of whom work in private practice, and about 20 psychologists ‘wanting to join every week’ says Dr Varela.
 
‘It’s had quite a lot of lead-in time, with making sure we get the training right, the psychologists with the right skills, making sure that we provide really high-quality care,’ she said.
 
Dr Varela said women getting in touch over a past loss is common, having either felt unable to deal with it previously, or by having memories reignited.
 
‘We have some women come into the program where it has been historical, but they’ve had a friend that’s had a recent loss that’s re-triggered the grief of their loss, and they wanted to work through how they feel about that when they haven’t had the opportunity before,’ she said.
 
‘And we don’t discriminate on how long ago, or what type of loss it is. Any woman that’s been through a perinatal or postnatal loss knows that you hold that grief for a long time, and it’s really personal and it’s different for everyone.
 
‘Men suffer the loss as well, so we also don't discriminate on gender.’
 
Dr Varela said RHC’s partnerships with GPs is ‘a really critical part of how all of our services have worked at Rural Health Connect’.
 
‘When you’re a telehealth psychologist and you’re not in the community that our clients are living in, the GP becomes the absolute cornerstone of really good care,’ she said.
 
‘So those relationships that we have with the GPs, in making sure that our clients are safe and they’re receiving the care they need, is what has made Rural Health Connect successful as a program.’
 
Dr Varela said the service enabled GPs to offer their patients multidisciplinary care.
 
‘We’re a really collaborative service, we work alongside GPs,’ she said.
 
‘It’s not a set-and-forget referral. We know that they’re probably the most critical part of our rural and remote clients’ care, so they can absolutely pick up the phone and talk to me again anytime they want.’
 
For further details on the program, see the Rural Health Connect website.
 
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miscarriage perinatal grief perinatal loss stillbirth telehealth