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"It can be a daunting experience to grieve all alone." (Lynne Harford)
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Based in Murray Bridge South Australia, approximately 85km south east of Adelaide, National Twin Loss Support has certainly been making an impact in Australia and overseas.
Under the name of the Murraylands Lutheran Stillborn Infant Support Service, the organisation was established in October 1992 to bridge the gap between rural and city facilities in the area of infant loss. Initially, set up to cater for the needs of families in the Murraylands region of South Australia who suffered any form of pregnancy loss, it eventually developed into one of the few organisations around the world that could specialise in twin loss and other higher order multiple loss issues. All counselling services were provided free of charge, and the Founder and Co-ordinator, Lynne Harford worked hard to build links with hospitals, church groups, counsellors, medical professionals, other bereavement groups, as well as some Government agencies.
Besides being a bereaved parent, Lynne Harford is a trained bereavement counsellor, completing courses with Lutheran Community Care, Adelaide, and the Bonnie Babes Foundation Inc., Victoria. Her background of having resided in both a city and rural environment makes her ideally suited to understanding the needs of people, no matter where they live.
In 2002, due to the high demand for twin loss resources, Lynne moved away from personal counselling to concentrate on the educational aspects of bereavement care work. Her partnership with the Apex Club of Murray Bridge resulted in the highly successful Apex Australia Twin Loss Awareness Kit. (see the speeches page in the Members Only section for more information).
In January 2005 Murraylands Lutheran Stillborn Infant Support Service decided that a name change would better suit the new direction that the organisation was taking, and so the name was altered to ‘Murraylands Twin Loss’. However, in order to allow for further expansion, in November 2008, the name was once again changed, this time to ‘National Twin Loss Support’. Although modern society seems to have greatly progressed in its more positive attitude towards bereavement care, attention to multiple pregnancy loss issues is still lagging behind. National Twin Loss Support, during its time as Murraylands Twin Loss, was instrumental in working on an Australia wide project to place ‘multiple pregnancy loss awareness kits’ into hospitals with obstetrics units, in an attempt to better educate medical professionals on the unique needs of families who lose a twin/triplet/quadruplet. Resource books such as "The Diary" and “The Survivor” have become valuable extensions of the work being done by National Twin Loss Support and can be purchased online from links on the purchasing page.
Over the years, National Twin Loss Support has worked hard to improve bereavement care education and has donated various books to local schools, hospitals, libraries and women's information centres. The main aim of the organisation is to break down the massive wall of fear and ignorance surrounding grief, and to replace it with love and understanding.
This organisation also highly recognises and recommends the work done by University of South Australia Lecturer in nursing, Dr Jane Warland PhD, and lists the following books as suggested reading:
Remember - it can be a daunting experience to grieve all alone, and only by everyone working together, will we be able to provide the best support for bereaved parents throughout the world.
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National Twin Loss Support is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient by the Australian Taxation Office. (ABN: 69 695 149 922)
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Copyright © 2009 National Twin Loss Support. All rights reserved. |
For
children: "Our Baby Died"