Bereavement Midwife

What is a bereavement midwife?

A bereavement midwife is a specialised healthcare professional dedicated to supporting individuals and families experiencing pregnancy or infant loss.

Trained in both midwifery and bereavement care, they provide emotional and practical support during difficult times.

Bereavement midwives offer guidance through the grieving process, facilitate sensitive conversations, and ensure that families receive care tailored to their unique needs, helping them navigate the complexities of loss with compassion, sensitivity and understanding.

How can they help?

Pregnancy Loss Support

Practical and emotional support and guidance to individuals and families experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

Sensitive Communication

Facilitate open and compassionate communication, addressing questions and concerns related to pregnancy loss.

Grief Counselling

Resources to help individuals navigate the grieving process after the loss of a baby.

Memory-Making

Assistance in creating meaningful memories, such as keepsakes, to remember the lost baby.

Post-Loss Care

Ongoing support in the post-loss period, connecting individuals with additional resources and services as needed.

Meet our bereavement midwife

Laura Bridle

RM, BSc, MSC, PG Cert

Midwife and Maternal Mental Health Specialist

Specialties:
Perinatal mental health; birth trauma; birth planning; pregnancy after loss; health inequalities and birth debriefs; tokophobia; antenatal education sessions

Consultation Pricing:
20 minutes: £50
40 minutes: £70
60 minutes: £90

I am a mum to a busy boy and a midwife with over 20 years’ experience working in obstetric care in Canada, UK, Nepal and South Sudan. I love being a midwife and being part of this important life event. I am very passionate about listening to women, birthing people and their families and giving them to information and tools to be as ready as they can be for their new baby.

I originally trained as a nurse in Canada working in public health and obstetrics prior to moving home to England to train and work as a midwife. I trained at University of Surrey and qualified with a 1st class honours and received the award for clinical excellence.

I worked as a caseload midwife, which enabled me to support families from the start of pregnancy up until 28 days post birth. This included supporting birth at home, on midwifery led units and consultant led units. I worked with Medecins Sans Frontières (doctors without borders) as a midwife manager in East Africa and volunteered in Nepal at the stand-alone birth centre in Kathmandu. I loved this part of my career and the skills I gained there have moulded me into the midwife I am today.

Prior to my current role, I worked as the lead midwife for mental health and chaired the UK mental health midwives forum for 5 years. I completed a PG Cert in Perinatal Mental Health at LSBU, which helped add to my skill set of supporting mental illness. I continue to teach student midwives at universities in London.

I completed a population health fellowship and led on a project co-producing a culturally sensitive recipe book for women with gestational diabetes. I previously taught water aerobics classes for pregnant women for 4 years in a London hospital.

I am now a senior midwife working in maternal mental health services in London. This specialist service supports women and birthing people who have trauma related to their maternity journey. I support women with birth planning, run a pregnancy loss listening clinic and co-run pregnancy after loss peer support including personalised antenatal education sessions. I also work as the Perinatal Improvement Workstream Lead for Health Inequalities.

My areas of focus includes those who have experienced pregnancy loss, birth trauma or tokophobia (fear of birth). I can also support those with mental illness or poor mental wellbeing.

I can support you to consider birth preferences and create a tailored birth plan. Birth can be unpredictable, and because of this, I like to create “ABCD” plan with you, we can think about what would make each mode of birth a positive and calm one for you and your family. I can offer birth debriefs, support your emotionally wellbeing in pregnancy and post birth and can help discuss any queries you may have about pregnancy and that first year at home with baby. I can tailor antenatal education sessions.

I am very passionate about my role as a midwife, which is why I have been in this profession for such a long time. I pride myself in offering evidence-based information and I am active in research myself. I have completed my MSC in advanced midwifery practice and I have been successful in receiving awards for my work in birth support, health inequalities and co-production of resources with our community.

I look forward to working with you.