Employees navigating fertility treatment and baby loss often struggle in silence

Knowing how to support your staff through these challenging experiences can make all the difference

Key Statistics

If an employee doesn’t feel well-supported during painful moments in their lives, it’s not uncommon for them to contemplate an exit strategy. The statistics underscore the gravity of the situation: 56% of employees who don’t feel genuinely supported during these times are likely to leave their role within 18 months. This turnover can cost an organisation approximately £30,000 to replace.

Offering employees professional, trauma-informed support during their fertility journey or after the tragic loss of a baby isn’t just a compassionate gesture. It’s a strategic move that gives you a competitive edge when it comes to attracting top talent, while also fostering a happy, productive, and loyal workforce.

The Tangible and Intangible Costs of Unaddressed Grief

It’s estimated that the annual cost of mental health issues to organisations amounts to a staggering £42 billion every year. Alarmingly, more than half of this — about £23 billion — relates directly to unaddressed grief. This unspoken suffering impacts presenteeism, staff absence, and overall productivity.

The reverberations of infertility and baby loss extend far beyond the individual at the heart of the matter. Friends, families, colleagues, managers, and HR departments can all be affected by such profound grief, particularly if they’re uncertain about how best to support the grieving individual.

Understanding the Impact

90% of individuals struggling with fertility issues report feelings of depression and have had suicidal thoughts.

At a 9 month follow-up, Tommy’s reported that 18% of woman continued to suffer from PTSD, while 23% were still battling anxiety and depression. Clearly, the emotional scars of such events don’t just fade away with time.

1/3 of those who experience the loss of a baby show symptoms of PTSD

These traumatic experiences require specialist evidence-based trauma therapy, not standard conselling, for effective healing

Creating a Supportive Environment for Employees

It is of paramount importance to be equipped with the right tools and understanding to assist those facing fertility challenges and baby loss. By introducing trauma-informed, specialist support within the workplace:

The outcome of such an investment? Not only does the organisation create a more inclusive, understanding and empathetic environment, but it also realises significant savings and growth.

In today’s world, creating psychologically safe workplaces isn’t just an aspiration – it’s a necessity. Every gesture of support counts, and every step taken towards creating a caring environment will not only benefit the individual but the entire organisation.

Download my free guide to learn more about on the emotional impact of losing a baby and some tips you can implement straight away as an organisation/manager.

About Kara

Kara specialises in supporting people who have had difficult fertility journeys, traumatic births, premature labours including NICU stays, challenging fertility journeys and/or who have lost a pregnancy or baby.

Her personal experience having multiple miscarriages, as well as a stillbirth helps her to understand how devastating it is to struggle with fertility and/or to lose a baby.

Kara is really passionate about working with organisations to help them support their staff with infertility and baby loss, as she knows first hand how much of a difference it can make.

How Kara Can Support You to Support Your Employees

Kara is deeply committed to helping individuals and organisations understand and navigate the emotional complexities surrounding infertility and baby loss. Through a variety of tailored services, she ensures that the journey, though tough, becomes manageable and less isolating.

Kara provides interactive webinars and ‘Lunch & Learn’ workshops that delve into the psychological impact of infertility and loss. These sessions equip attendees with coping strategies and insights to foster a safe environment for discussions on fertility challenges.

Enhance or build policies to fully support employees undergoing fertility treatments or returning after a loss. With Kara’s guidance, ensure that your policies resonate with your intent to create a psychologically safe culture.

With specialist training sessions, line managers will be empowered with the skills needed to identify signs of grief and provide ongoing support. This not only eases the emotional burden on managers but also streamlines the transition back from bereavement leave and significantly reduces HR team pressure.

Let Kara train your motivated employees, who have braved their fertility challenges, to be in-house experts. By equipping these individuals to offer peer support, you’re further establishing a culture of psychological safety and giving employees a reliable first step for help.

Kara offers bespoke one-on-one sessions, catering to varied needs. From evidence-based psychological therapies and fertility coaching to transition and performance coaching, each session is tailor-made. The emphasis is always on facilitating coping, bolstering resilience, and ensuring that grief is managed with the utmost sensitivity.

STSS Membership
With the ‘Supporting the Silent Struggle’ membership, employees gain access to a wealth of resources, including handouts, specialist support groups, and psychological therapy sessions. This is an effective way to reduce the isolation felt during these challenging times and reinforce your company’s commitment to employee well-being.

E-Learning Modules
Offer your employees flexibility with e-learning modules. These modules, featuring content from the STSS membership, can be accessed in the employees’ own time, ensuring discretion until they’re ready to seek more direct support.

Kara also offers support to help with transitioning back to work after maternity or bereavement leave.

For those seeking a more information, you can download a comprehensive brochure detailing each offering below.

Supporting the Silent Struggle Membership

This membership is a comprehensive package which enables organisations to support both their line managers and employees, creating cultural change at an organisational level, management level and individual level.

The membership gives access specialist training for their line managers and HR departments- covering practical advice, as well as learning how to have emotionally difficult conversations with colleagues experiencing infertility and/or following loss. It also discusses how managers and HR personnel can look after themselves when supporting with such emotional difficult topics, recognising they may also have had similar personal challenges.

It will also provide specialist information and weekly therapeutic support to the employee themselves delivered personally by Kara.

To be informed of the launch date of this membership and to qualify for the reduced rate AND a free 1:1 session with Kara, join the waiting list below.

You can find out what the modules are by downloading Kara’s brochure HERE.

Please note, the reduced rates and free 1:1 session are only available to founding members.

Join the Mailing List Now!

Free Monthly Baby Loss Support Groups

I offer two 60 minute support sessions on the first Sunday of every month.

The aim of the groups is to provide emotional support, it is not a therapy group. The groups are a really gentle and safe space to be with others who understand your devastating loss and want to talk about their baby. Each week we will discuss topics that are important and timely to attendees.

The groups are held over Zoom, with no pressure to have your camera or microphone on. To sign up to receive email notifications of the groups click the button below.