Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Charity founder features in podcast on child loss
A Coatbridge mum and charity founder featured in a special podcast on the heartbreak of losing a child and speaking about the support available for parents.
Julie Morrison – who founded Baby Loss Retreat alongside husband Bryan – appeared in the Mother’s Day edition of mini-series It Takes A Village, which highlights lottery-funded charities offering support to parents.
She was chosen to appear after receiving an award last year for her organisation’s “inspirational” work in offering counselling and support to those who have suffered any baby loss from miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death and IVF.
The podcast series is hosted by TV star and mum of two Anna Williamson, who is a qualified counsellor, and Julie’s episode also featured the Stillbirth And Neonatal Death Society (SANDS) as it centred on grief and loss, and advice for those experiencing traumatic times.
Julie said: “When the National Lottery asked me to do the podcast with Anna, I was really happy; it’s raising awareness of baby loss, which is a taboo subject.
“A lot of people don’t know how to react to it if they haven’t experienced loss, so this is raising awareness and showing how important it is.
“It meant a lot for me to do this as you don’t just grieve and then that’s it – grieving goes on for years, and [being involved] was special and really emotional for me because of what I’ve experienced.”
The couple’s daughter Erin was tragically stillborn in 2003. They founded Baby Loss Retreat
in her honour in 2018, and the charity now provides 24-hour counselling and care services as well as tranquil respite breaks for bereaved families.
Julie, who is also mum to Demi, Aiden and Leon, said: “We keep Erin’s memory alive by speaking about what happened and supporting other parents.
“All mothers should be recognised, whether they’ve got
a child or not.”
She added of the podcast: “Anna’s a parent too and was really lovely.
“I felt I could open up and tell her about Erin, and it was fantastic she wanted to do this and speak to me.
“It’s definitely important to raise awareness and it was good to be able to talk about this on Mother’s Day because it is
special.
“The National Lottery bringing up the subject of baby loss in the podcast raises great awareness; a lot of people will [then] understand where the money is going and that’s what it’s all about.
“I want to thank everybody who buys a lottery ticket; we depend on the grants and without that money we couldn’t do what we do in supporting parents.”
National Lottery players raise £30 million per week for good causes and Uk-wide lottery funding to support the coronavirus response has exceeded £1 billion during the past year.
The podcast featuring Julie is available via lotterygoodcauses. org.uk and through Spotify and Apple Podcasts.