*Please note this service has now closed. If you would like to book in for an individual session with Amanda Scott Art Therapy to support you in this time, please get in touch.
You might be finding it really difficult to talk about the loss of your baby even though there may be so much you want to say.
When a pregnancy loss happens, when a baby dies, the hopes and dreams that you had for your baby die too. I would like to hear about your experience of loss, about your baby and about your hopes and dreams.
I invite you to write to me about your experience of pregnancy loss. I will respectfully read your words and spend time with them.
Your words will touch me and I will respond to them by making a small piece of art. The art will be something new to emerge from your loss.
Hello, my name is Pam.
I have a special interest in the experiences of women (and their partners) who suffer pregnancy loss. I am currently a final year student, studying creative arts therapy at Miecat (Melbourne institute for experiential and creative arts therapy) and currently undertaking a placement with Amanda Scott Art Therapy. I am providing this service through Amanda Scott Art Therapy for the duration of my placement.
At the moment I also work as an obstetric sonographer (ultrasound scanning) and my job involves discovering, and breaking the news of pregnancy loss.
I have worked as a sonographer for more than 20 years and from early on, I was deeply moved by seeing the impact that a diagnosis of miscarriage can have on women and their partners.
I became determined to do my job better by learning how best to be with parents when they hear about the loss of their baby. I took many short courses, did lots of reading and most importantly, I spent lots of time with women at the point of their diagnosis. All of which lead me on to more formal qualifications.
I undertook the Masters of Counselling course at La Trobe University in 2013 and now I am studying again. I realised that there are very few services for women who experience pregnancy loss and I want to be able to offer such a service based around using creative arts.
Instead of a face to face meeting, I am inviting you to send me your words, to tell me about your experience of pregnancy loss.
There is a secure and private space to submit your experience below. Writing down your experience means that you can say just what you want to say. You can choose to take lots of time to think and lots of time to write and edit your words.
Alternatively, you might just want to write really quickly and not read your words before sending them to me.
You may choose to write a lot or maybe just a few lines.
Whatever feels right for you is just fine.
Sending me your written words means that you can remain completely anonymous if you want to (although you are welcome to come up with a pseudo name.)
You don’t have to make an appointment or find the courage to turn up and speak to someone.
If you do want the opportunity to speak to someone face to face, then that is also possible with Amanda Scott Art Therapy who is hosting the ‘Responding to Pregnancy Loss’ service. You can find more details about the individual sessions here.
Firstly I will be honoured to receive your words and I will treat them with great respect.
When I receive your submission, I will read it, and spend time with it perhaps reading it many times so that I can try to connect with what your experience was like for you.
Reading about your experience will cause emotions, thoughts and feelings to arise in me and I will use my response to guide me in making a piece of art. The art is my response to your experience.
The art piece will be small, probably the size of a postcard. The art itself might be any number of things. It might be a small painting or a piece of collage. It maybe a poem that I form from your own words, or I might choose to use the words of another poet. I might take a photograph. There are lots of possibilities and I will be guided by my response to your words.
The art response is proof that your pregnancy has touched someone else. You know that someone else has listened to you and really tried to hear and to begin to understand you.
Your words have allowed your pregnancy and your baby to become real to someone else.
The art is something new to emerge from your loss. This might be important because if you have experienced an early pregnancy loss, you may not have anything else to keep except your memories of the few short weeks of your pregnancy. The art piece is something that you might choose to keep as well.
The process of making the art will take me a little time. When it is finished I can send the art to you directly if you are happy to provide an address.
I would also like very much to put an image of the art into a gallery on this website. The image would of course be totally anonymous unless you would like it to have your name on it.
It is my hope that having the art displayed here on the website where it can be seen by others, might be of further help to you. You will know that the art made in response to your loss will be seen by, and touch, many other people.
I hope that seeing a collection of pieces of art in response to pregnancy loss may then help others to find the courage to try this service for themselves.
I will also keep a copy of each piece of art for my records.
If you have any more questions please feel free to submit your questions using the form below and I will be happy to answer them.
Some women suffer a miscarriage, some women find themselves needing to undergo a termination and some women lose babies later in pregnancy through stillbirth. These are all pregnancy losses. All losses are important. Your experience is important, and all experiences are welcome here. If you feel this service can help you, then please feel free to use it.
All of the images here have been shared with the express permission of the recipients of the art works.
Each art piece here is unique. Every one was made as a direct response to an individual experience of pregnancy loss. The images are a visual representation of my response to being with the experience of the other.
You are seeing the end result of this process and therefore some of the images may seem strange, confusing or difficult to understand.
I am so grateful to all those who felt able to use this service and I would especially like to thank those who agreed to share their art-response in this space. Allowing your art-piece to be seen here is another way that the existence of your baby can be witnessed by others.