Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement
Mount Sinai Health System provides bereavement services for families experiencing losses during pregnancy, infancy, or childhood. Our Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement staff will guide and support you through the grieving process.
When a child dies or a pregnancy ends in a loss, you, your partner, and your family may experience many emotions including fear, isolation, anger, confusion, relief and sadness. If you already have children, they may also express different reactions to the loss depending on their age and/or their emotional stage of development.
Our program can help you identify support services tailored to your needs at different points in your grief journey. This might include individual therapy, couples therapy, support groups, peer support among other resources.
Services We Provide
The grieving process can feel overwhelming. Mount Sinai utilizes a multidisciplinary approach including social workers, child life specialists, creative arts therapists and chaplains to provide concrete and supportive services to help families navigate this difficult time.
Our services include:
- Short term individual, couple, and family support and counseling
- Phone based counseling for individuals and couples with distance or scheduling hardships
- Developmentally appropriate resources to help siblings of all ages cope with loss
- Education and guidance about the grieving process
- Assistance in developing healthy and effective coping strategies
- Support groups for individuals or couples dealing with stillbirth, miscarriage, and neonatal death
- Support groups for women and/or couples who have terminated a wanted pregnancy after prenatal diagnosis
- Mental health and other support referrals
- Facilitation of meaningful rituals and support sensitive to families' spiritual, cultural, and religious beliefs
- Annual service for families to remember those who were lost during pregnancy and childhood
- Parent’s Day service to honor parents who have lost children
- Wellness evenings and other special programming
- Legacy building and memory making
- Assistance navigating funeral arrangements and burial options
- Resources for parents and caregivers
Where We Provide Services
Mount Sinai’s perinatal and pediatric bereavement program operates out of the Mount Sinai Hospital, where we provide services in person. We also provide telephone counseling for patients with distance or scheduling hardships.
Funding
Our program is enhanced through grants and donations from individuals and families.