Messages to support First Nation dads through grief and loss
SMS4DeadlyDads and Red Nose have launched a free text message service to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fathers facing the heartbreak of pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or the death of a baby.
SMS4DeadlyDads and Red Nose Deadly Dads – Grief and Loss, is a text message service co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and health professionals to provide practical guidance, emotional support, and connection straight to an Indigenous dad’s phone.
“It’s important that we share the load, because then we can move on. Not just as Aboriginal people, but as groups of men. We can’t bottle it up,” Ian Eggins, co-founder of Connecting Culture, Wandiyali and member of the SMS4DeadlyDads advisory
group, said.
Supported and included
“Grief and loss support tends to focus on mothers, leaving fathers feeling isolated and unsure where to turn for help.”
Associate Professor Richard Fletcher, Principal Investigator of SMS4DeadlyDads, said the messages were developed to ensure First Nations dads are seen, supported and included in conversations of grief and loss.
“The loss of a pregnancy or baby affects a father forever, and yet, his grief is overlooked. These messages were created to acknowledge that loss and provide support that is free, private, and accessible.”
In Australia, around 1 in 5 pregnancy’s end in miscarriage, six babies are stillborn every day, and more than 700 babies die each year within the first 28 days of life. Fathers in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families are often isolated in these cases of pregnancy and infant loss.
“What makes the healing process harder is that three months, six months down the track, people move on a little bit. But you’re still picking up the pieces. You still have an empty bedroom,” said bereaved First Nations dad Ben.
Ben and his partner Natalie lost their twin daughters, Sydney Rose and Patience Blue, soon after they were born.
“Having that text message come through might just be the right message you need, the right words, at the right time,” Natalie said.
“If dads can receive a message that starts them on a journey of meeting other bereaved dads, it’s pretty amazing.”
The grief and loss messages are available for free now through SMS4DeadlyDads.
