Peer Support Worker, Nicola Klein, has been nominated for an award for her dedication to supporting grieving families across Birmingham and Solihull.
Nicola, who works for our Maternal Mental Health team, has been nominated for the Mariposa Trust’s Archie Bereavement Professional of the Year award. This national award is designed to recognise excellence in bereavement care and looks to acknowledge the incredible service and care bereavement midwives, bereavement nurses and other bereavement specialists provide.
After the tragic loss of her daughter in 2013, Nicola now uses her own lived experience to support other grieving parents and families with their mental health following perinatal loss. Nicola was nominated by a service user who was referred to the team after the loss of their baby, born prematurely at 24 weeks.
The service user received support from our highly experienced Maternal Mental Health team, which is where she first met Nicola. As a result of the exceptional care she provided, Nicola was put forward for this touching nomination.
Nicola said: “I am so incredibly honoured to have been nominated for this award. In 2013 I lost my daughter to neonatal death, after navigating grief and receiving mental health support from BSMHFT, my passion has been to support others. I have done this through charitable work and my job today. I am so grateful to be able to have a job that I love. My passion and intentions have always been to support others and not to gain recognition or awards.
Being nominated is not something I expected and has left me humbled and speechless. I feel proud to be able to work for an incredible and valuable team, helping women through their most difficult time."
Dr Samantha Day, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for BSMHFT’s Maternal Mental Health Service said: “I am really proud of Nicola for getting nominated. It is a true reflection of the value of her work, and that of peer support within a recovery journey. The importance of a professional being able to understand and hold the depth of despair that our service users can experience, and to give hope, and to be living proof, that things will become more bearable. It is also validation for our service and how necessary and important support through perinatal loss can be within the reproductive journey.”
The Mariposa Trust ceremony is set to take place in London, Saturday 11 March 2023.
