Press Kit
The Institute of Reproductive Grief Care® is the global authority on reproductive grief care after pregnancy and reproductive losses including miscarriage, abortion, infertility, stillbirth, and neonatal death.
The Institute is known for its gentle, non-judgmental, supportive approach to each person and situation, without religious or political affiliation.
Goal
Our goal is to accelerate the widespread adoption of a reproductive grief standard of care, bringing comfort and hope to millions who often grieve alone, silently, for years or decades.
Three Pillars of Service
- Education: The Institute offers online courses and educational resources to help healthcare professionals improve the emotional healing trajectory of patients impacted by reproductive grief. We work with hospitals and emergency departments, medical professionals, therapists, social workers, clinics and community leaders. We are accredited to offer continuing education for many healthcare professions. We also certify healthcare professionals in Reproductive Grief Care, so that those committed to offering the highest standard of compassionate care can become a resource for those in their community who have been touched by reproductive loss.
- Research: The Institute is at the forefront of creating impartial and impactful research to understand the way individuals process reproductive losses, and to use evidence-based research in creating global standards for compassionate care. We also promote the research of others, to better understand grief after reproductive loss and to close practice gaps in medicine.
- Healing Resources: The Institute offers books, memorial items, and other healing resources directly to those affected, including the “Forget Me Not Signature Collection” of sympathy cards, jewelry and comfort boxes. All Institute proceeds from sales of healing resources go directly to helping those impacted.
National Headquarters
The Institute is nationally headquartered in San Diego, and is an active campus where organizations and individuals come together for education and research, to better understand grief after reproductive loss, and to close practice gaps in medicine. The new facility, which opened in 2022, features a counseling center, research library, teaching rooms, recording studio, a 400-seat auditorium with remote capabilities, and office space for visiting scholars and the Institute team.
High Visibility Successes
Emergency Department Program – 1 million parents will experience a miscarriage in the U.S. each year. Half will seek help from Emergency Department staff who have not been adequately trained to address the emotional and grief aspects of these losses. We are changing this with our comprehensive multidisciplinary Emergency Department Program. Created in 2022, this program is already active in 3 large healthcare systems. See Dr. Ben Carson’s video on this important program.
Reproductive Grief Screening Tool –Grief after pregnancy and reproductive loss is downplayed in our culture, leading to grief that lingers for years, even decades. A healthy healing trajectory of reproductive grief begins with recognizing that the grief exists. The Institute has created a new “Reproductive Grief Screening Tool” for healthcare professionals to quickly identify those grieving and advise additional care. Our successful research of this new Tool has been published in the prestigious American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and also accepted for presentation at the 2023 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s 43rd Annual Pregnancy Meeting.
Symposium – The Institute is hosting its inaugural Reproductive Grief Care Symposium in March 2023. Academics, researchers and healthcare professionals will come together to discuss groundbreaking research, best practices, and effective grief care strategies.
Forget Me Not Flower Campaign – For those directly touched by pregnancy and reproductive loss, the Institute offers the “Forget Me Not Signature Collection” of sympathy cards, jewelry and comfort boxes. The Institute created the national campaign to designate the “Forget Me Not” flower as a symbol of reproductive loss remembrance. The publicity campaign promoting the flower as a symbol of reproductive loss won the grand prize of “Nonprofit Communications Campaign of the Year” in 2022.
Helpful Videos
- Why do we need an Institute of Reproductive Grief Care? What does the Institute do?
- Quick Tour: A 45 second tour of our national headquarters in San Diego.
- Pregnancy Loss in the Emergency Room: One Nurse’s Story
- Dr. Ben Carson, famed pediatric neurosurgeon and Presidential Cabinet member, speaks of the critical need for reproductive grief care education for ED staff.
Vision
- To facilitate the widespread adoption of best practices to provide compassionate for those impacted by pregnancy and reproductive loss. To educate professional caregivers and community leaders worldwide, who each help others heal through an evidence-based standard of care.
- To understand, through impartial, factual research, what an individual experiences after reproductive loss. To inspire and support a body of research used to develop best practices for helping those impacted by these losses.
- To facilitate a conversation about reproductive loss without judgement, blame, or politics, with a focus on supporting those impacted and their loved ones.
More Information
The Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. For more information, see the Institute’s introductory video.
Press Contact
Sandra Yacura
Sandra@ReproductiveGrief.org
Director of Communications
760-212-3306