Say the right words when it matters most
Professional Development Training
Expert lived‑experience training for Australian health professionals who meet families on their hardest days.
Families remember every phrase spoken on the worst day of their lives. This live workshop provides you with evidence-based communication skills and confidence to ensure that your words empower, with clarity and compassion and never harm.
Our Promise
Research shows that clear, compassionate communication can halve a parent’s risk of post‑traumatic stress after the death of a baby or child. When the stakes are this high, words matter.
Designed by lived experience experts, our training is Australia’s first training co‑designed with thousands of bereaved families and parents who have received a life-limiting diagnosis for their child.
You’ll leave with tested language scripts, simple clinician self‑regulation techniques, and a trauma‑informed roadmap so you can meet grief, difficult conversations, and shared decision-making (whether anticipated or sudden) with clarity, confidence, and humanity.
Research‑Informed Impact
Why Words Matter
Up to 60 % of parents develop clinical anxiety, depression or PTSD after the loss of their baby - yet respectful, well‑timed communication can cut that risk in half. (Systematic review, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth*, 2021).
The Australian CASaND Clinical Practice Guideline states that “the quality of care and support—including clinician language—directly influences parents’ long‑term wellbeing.”
An international survey of 3,000+ bereaved parents found anxiety and depression scores dropped when clinicians offered choice, empathy and clear explanations at every step. (Horey et al., 2021, Star Legacy Foundation).
Power of Lived Experience
The National Mental Health Commission’s Lived Experience Workforce Guidelines report higher engagement, fewer critical incidents and better staff wellbeing when training is co‑designed with lived‑experience leaders.
Our training is the first Australian program to embed these principles in bereavement care, ensuring every script, scenario and role‑play is grounded in real parent stories and peer‑reviewed research.
Typical workshops on bereavement versus our workshop
Traditional training
Taught from textbooks or practitioner experience with zero or minimal consultation with families.
(It’s like creating a resource about women without consulting women.)Generic loss examples, based on flawed concepts, and broad generalisations
(Everyone’s grief is individual; and there are no neat stages of grief)Minimal evidence base
(Our workshops are backed by and on-the-ground data straight from families. We go where no one else dares - we ask them)
Our Training
Designed by lived experience experts and co-written with families who have stood in maternity, neonatal, paediatric and ICU wards.
Focused on pregnancy, baby, and children of all ages, yet relevant to all conversations, including shared decision making, communicating life-limiting diagnosis, poor outcomes and bereavements within a health care setting.
Built by program and education design experts, it includes interactive skill-building with scripts, role-plays and self-regulation exercises.
Informed by surveys of 1,800+ parents and interviews with 200+ families
Adaptable to ED, maternity, PICU, oncology, psychology, palliative care, counselling and community care.
The only training of its kind that has been directly co-created with thousands of families of lived experience
“Because every word on the worst day of someone’s life matters.”
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the workshop you will be able to:
Set the scene, open with empowering questions and create a trauma‑sensitive environment in the first 90 seconds.
Use language that lands, phrases tested with parents to reduce guilt and regret.
Adapt to anticipatory or sudden events, shared decision making, and poor outcomes, tailor your approach to different scenarios.
Apply the dos and don’ts backed by family feedback, what to avoid and how to apologise if you miss the mark.
Use brief clinician self‑regulation techniques, protect against burnout and set a calm tone.
Provide after‑care chart notes, follow‑up calls and memorial milestones that honour the family’s timeline.
FAQs
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Anyone working on the frontline in health care that may encounter conversations around loss ranging from: GP’s · Obstetricians · Midwives · Neonatal & Paediatric Nurses · ED & ICU Staff · Social Workers · Psychologists · GPs · Chaplains · Allied‑Health Teams · Medical & Nursing Students · Receptionists · Secretaries · Assistants · Booking Managers · Front of house and practice managers
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Yes of course this course is applicable for a wide range of CPD
PD hours: 2 (or 1.5 for the 90‑minute format)
Domains: Communication, Cultural Safety, Trauma‑ and Grief‑Informed Care
Eligible professions: Nursing & Midwifery, Medicine, Psychology, Social Work, Allied Health, Chaplaincy and more
Documentation: Certificate with learning outcomes and reflection questions supplied for AHPRA or college logs
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Our highly skilled team hold university‑ and masters‑level qualifications across education, law, business and governance. We are experts with law or education degrees, and additional postgraduate qualifications in teaching, conflict resolution or education leadership. We also bring board‑level expertise in designing accredited training programs—and, crucially, each of us carries lived experience after losing a baby or child in different circumstances. We have been leading national conversations around lived experience for over ten years.
Beyond our academic and professional credentials, we currently serve on many government‑appointed panels, advisory bodies and working groups as lived experience experts. Including the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence, national working groups for paediatric palliative care, and lived‑experience advisory panels for many charities and advocacy groups. We are regularly called upon as experts by hopsitals and health care providers across the nation to provide lived expertise.
We have also built a trusted community of more than 47,000 parents and clinicians on social media; many of these members sit on our consultation panels, allowing us to test and refine every module in real time.
Together we bring the kind of lived experience insights and the professional skills that are unique, deeply insightful and backed by research you can trust.
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Is it only about baby loss?
No. While the primary lens is pregnancy, baby, perinatal and child loss, as well as the loss of an older child every script and framework applies to all forms of bereavement.
We regularly test and refine the content with our 47,000‑strong community of parents and clinicians, so examples and language can be tweaked in real time to suit maternity, ED, oncology, aged care—or any setting where grief arises.
Workshop Agernda
Opening & orientation: Brain-body basics of acute grief; psychological safety
Language toolkit & family feedback: Dos & don’ts; tested phrases; words families never want to hear
Anticipatory, sudden loss and share decision making conversations: scenario walk-throughs and adaptive approaches
Repair & after-care: Apology; follow-up protocols; overstepping,
Self-regulation & Q&A: Techniques to reduce burnout; moral-injury prevention; live questions
Runs as a 90-minute workshop (condensed) or an extended 2-hour masterclass.
Ready to transform the way you meet your next family?
Enrol and bring compassionate, evidence‑based language to your next difficult patient conversation.