Possum Portraits Inc.
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Mission Statement
The purpose of our charity is to relieve the emotional distress and suffering of bereaved families in Australia who have experienced miscarriage, TFMR, stillbirth or neonatal death.
About This Cause
Our core program provides early-intervention bereavement care to families after pregnancy and baby loss. We focus specifically on memory-making and grief support, working with a network of over 150 maternity hospitals and other maternity care providers nationwide to reach affected families as soon as their need for support arises. Our patient-centred grief support methodology is based on the central tenets of Attachment Theory. Clinical findings in the field of Developmental Psychology show that acknowledging and nurturing the continuing emotional bond a parent feels for their baby even after its death measurably improves health outcomes for bereaved parents. We support the healthy maintenance of this bond by creating bespoke, commemorative keepsake portraits of so-called "angel babies" for grieving parents all across Australia. Since commencing operations in January 2022, our team of professional portrait artists has been crafting original drawings in pencil, charcoal, pastel and ink, giving parents cherished memories of babies gone too soon. Our second program provides specialised bereavement care training for midwives. Our course is endorsed as a continued professional development activity by the Australian College of Midwives and upskills front-line maternity care personnel in caregiving for bereaved parents. In group discussions and hands-on role play, midwives rehearse for potential care scenarios and difficult conversations with parents. Healthcare staff learn to manage the emotional stress of caring for bereaved families, thereby reducing symptoms of burnout and increasing qualified maternity staff retention. Our course offering thus answers the call to improve bereavement care education for healthcare staff highlighted in the government's National Stillbirth Action & Implementation Plan. Possum Portraits is a member of the global stillbirth awareness, prevention, research and advocacy body the International Stillbirth Alliance (ISA), as well as a member of the Australian Stillbirth Centre for Research Excellence. On the back of previous academic research into the use of bereavement keepsakes in perinatal bereavement care, we are in 2024 commencing a research collaboration with Monash University and the University of Adelaide to specifically investigate the efficacy of keepsake portraiture in perinatal grief support. Our results are expected to support the preliminary finding that keepsake portraiture can play a significant role in mediating parents' grief experiences after loss and supporting their ability to come to terms with the death of their child.