Losing a baby can be an isolating and lonely experience at the best of times but being forced to be apart from family and friends when you do can make it impossibly painful.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left parents struggling with loss floundering, unable to access the usual avenues of support such as face-to-face counselling and bereavement services.
Which is why peer support phone lines at Red Nose Australia have become inundated.
Those lines are run by volunteers who are specially trained to support bereaved families across losses - from early miscarriage to losing a baby or child.
"Without having that phone peer support, I dread to think where those families would be," says Michelle Jewels-Parsons, a celebrant who volunteers her time to Red Nose as an MC.
"The phones are constantly busy with families ringing in. It's vital.
"You'd just feel like you were treading water alone and that's a really isolating and dangerous place to be.
"You need the support of others who have experienced what you have so you don't feel like you're walking that road alone."
Jewels-Parsons and her husband have always believed in "paying it forward", and she saw how important Red Nose and similar services were for her sister when she lost a child after a house fire in 2009.
Her sister's marriage did not survive the loss, so speaking to other mums facing a similar tragedy became crucial.
"It's a really grey emotional area to navigate where you don't know where to turn," she says.
"My sister found it a very lonely experience.
"You realise that having a peer support network of other mums to be able to talk to ... is actually really important. You don't feel alone."
This International Volunteer Day, Red Nose is urging people to volunteer to meet surging demand for support from grief-stricken families who have lost a baby during COVID.
Volunteering is crucial for charities to be able to operate, says Jewels-Parsons, who used to work for other charities before becoming a celebrant and helping "hundreds and hundreds" of families farewell their babies and children.
"I know first hand how impossibly difficult it is, so I feel very privileged to do what I do," she says.
"If you can't give by financial means, you can also give of yourself and sometimes giving of yourself is the biggest gift.
"You will never know the difference you will make to others."
Red Nose 24/7 Grief and Loss Support Line 1300 308 307 or visit rednosegriefandloss.org.au.
Register to be a Red Nose Volunteer Now: https://rednose.org.au/page/register-to-volunteer
Australian Associated Press
