Name: Joanne Morton – lake
Organisation: Baby Bereavement support group
Award Category: Bereavement Worker
Sponsored By:
Voting Is Now Closed
My Plea:
The Baby bereavement support group was founded in 1994 by my Mother who at the time was a Midwife in Hartlepool Whilst her Daughter in law was giving birth to Mums first grandchild in the next room was a set of parents grandparents who had a still born My mum stayed with family for a long time afterwards to console and help as much as she could and later made home visits to the family . She saw the need for a Bereavement Midwife / counselor as there was nothing at that time for families That day the Baby bereavement support group was born , In 1999 she was awarded the MBE for the start up and her charity work something I am extremely proud of .
Over the years I have became involved with the charity and since 2014 when my mother passed away I now run the Baby bereavement support group and I am the counselor now for the Group we offer one to one counselling the service is free as are my services I do this on a purely volunteer biases .every one involved are volunteers .
I was excited to learn that I was nominated for this award I meet some wonderful people during my work for the charity , many who go on to become befriend ers a listing ear for families who need someone to talk to , and I have helped many people through the stages of grief I am available 24 /7 as people do not experience grief 9 till 5 it can come over people day or night at any time .
We were saddened this year to learn the NHS has cut our grant in such a time when Mental health is in the for front of everyone’s minds However We still offer the service it is such a important service helping families parents siblings and extended families to think I might have helped 1 family fills me with gratitude and surs me on to help who I can .
What Others Have Said
I would like to nominate Jo Morton Lake from baby breavement in hartlepool n the reason for my nomination today is with out jo myself n partner would still be struggling m not moving forward with life jo has put all her time love and attention to allof her clients jo you are totally amazing and thank you for the time you put in with us both x
Jo is fantastic, down to earth and very caring. She offered me a lifeline when all my local services had failed me. She travelled from Hartlepool to Gateshead once a week for a year to support me on a weekly basis. My baby girl Annabelle was born sleeping at 20 weeks. I was discharged from hospital with promises of help with organising my baby girl’s funeral and crucially some counselling. I received neither support due to a lack of funding and when I made enquiries one member of staff was on holiday and another on long term sick with no provision in place to cover their time off.
I honestly believe if Jo hadn’t been there for me I probably wouldn’t be here now either. I have two living children who would’ve potentially lost their sister and their Mum. I think my marriage would also have broken down. Jo gave a different perspective when I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.
The depair, loneliness and emptiness you feel when your child dies is life changing. Jo helped me to accept that I wont just get over my loss as grief is a cycle. It goes round and round. You live around that loss. With Jo’s help I have started to be able to identify the different stages of the grief cycle and which one I am currently in.
She truly deserves this award and is a diamond when all you see is emptiness and a black hole. Thank you for all your help and support!
When my daughter lost her baby last year in early September. we left hospital reassured that help and support would be immediately forthcoming and easily accessible. It wasn’t. NO help materialised at all despite repeated pleas for appointments etc. By November my daughter’s health and mental state had deteriorated to a degree where I was genuinely fearful for the future. I was desperate to get her some help and drew blank after blank from organisations I thought might be able to help. I trawled the internet and came across the Baby Bereavement Support centre in Hartlepool. I emailed. They responded promptly and I was able to actually speak to someone. We live quite a distance from Hartlepool but I said I’d happily get my daughter there if there was a chance of some help. I was told no, they would make home visits despite the distance. I was overwhelmed with relief that Someone,Somewhere was finally going to offer help and support. I know these sessions helped my daughter enormously and I cannot praise Joanne enough for the kindness, understanding and professionalism she offered. Thank you.