Parent Advisory Committee (PAC)
The Parent Advisory Committee has two main goals.
Vicki lives in Wellington, New Zealand and has been involved with Sands New Zealand for around five years. Vicki and her husband Kevan experienced the full-term stillbirth of their first daughter in 1998.
Vicki has a background in social work, teaching and research, she has an MA (Applied) in Social Work and completed her PhD in a women's health topic. She was fortunate in winning a Vodafone NZ Foundation's 'World of Difference' award in 2006 which enabled her to work in a full-time capacity for Sands New Zealand as its National Project Coordinator. She is currently funded to develop a national integrated approach to pregnancy, baby and infant loss in New Zealand and sees her involvement in ISA as complementary to that role.
Liz Conway (Co-chair)
Brisbane, Australia
Email : liz.davis@stillbirthalliance.org
The passion that drives Liz comes from her own personal experience and the experience of the many parents she has come in contact with over the years she has been involved in the area of infant bereavement.
In her current working life, Liz is the coordinator of a support group for bereaved parents. She has been involved with the development of various programs, including two films which she hopes will enhance the experience of parents and assist in educating health care professionals and others.
Liz feels that sharing experiences and expertise across the globe between parents, health care professionals and researchers can only improve the welfare of parents and their babies. Liz has been the co-chair of the Parent Advisory committee of the International Stillbirth Alliance since 2005.
Sherokee Ilse ( Co-chair )
Maple Plain, MN, USA
Email : sherokee.ilse@stillbirthalliance.org
Sherokee is the mother of three babies who died too early, Marama (miscarried), Brennan (full term stillborn), and Bryna (ectopic pregnancy) and two healthy children.
Motivated by her personal experience and a desire to bring more compassion, understanding, and support to bereaved families, she wrote the book, Empty Arms, a guide to help others live through the loss of their baby and heal. Over the past 25 years she has written many books/booklets through her company, Wintergreen Press, and she is an international speaker on the subject of pregnancy and infant loss.
Sherokee is also on the ISA board. She can be reached at www.wintergreenpress.com
Sue Hale
Nottingham, UK
Email : sue.hale@stillbirthalliance.org
Sue's second son, Matthew, was stillborn after a healthy, trouble-free pregnancy and no known reason was found. Initially, looking for her own support, she became involved in Sands, a UK based charity which offers support after a baby dies. Sands also works closely with health professionals to improve care and promote research to help save more babies lives.
As time passed Sue realised that she wanted to try to ensure that all parents were offered such support and ran a volunteer group for the charity for several years. More recently, Sue has worked on the national telephone helpline and has now moved into the area of group development, assisting parent led groups around the country.
Ros lives in Sydney, Australia has a background as a registered general nurse, working mostly in Accident and Emergency, Palliative and Aged Care areas. Following the stillbirth of her daughter, Ros developed the professional resource, Appropriate Care for Women and their partners when their baby dies, and the parent booklets Miscarriage and When a Baby Dies. In 1992, Ros and a group of bereaved volunteers successfully lobbied the NSW State Government for changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act, enabling parents of stillborn babies to receive a birth certificate for their baby in the state of New South Wales.
Ros is now employed as the Health Promotion Manager for SIDS and Kids NSW., a charitable, community-based organisation providing support for parents who experience the death of their baby during pregnancy, birth and infancy, up to 6 years of age. Ros’ team designs and implements services in the areas of bereavement support, education and training, advocacy and special project work.
Ros has a Graduate Diploma in Social Science (Community Services), completed a Master of Public Health in 2006 and is now completing a Master of Health Services Management.
Claudia Ravaldi and Alfredo Vannacci
Italy
Email : claudia.ravaldi@stillbirthalliance.org
Claudia Ravaldi, co-founder with her husband Alfredo Vannacci of the Italian stillbirth support organization, CiaoLapo Onlus. Claudia is the mother of three babies Giulio (2003), Lapo (stillborn 2006) and Guglielmo (2007). She is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, mainly working in the fields of eating disorders, anxiety and depression. She is also the author of several international articles and book chapters on psychiatric issues. After the stillbirth of Lapo, she decided to apply herself mainly to the field of grief, beginning the study and the clinical application of validated international protocols for perinatal grief support. Unfortunately, in Italy very few hospitals offer a structured service for parents' grief, so she decided to create with her husband a charity organization to spread the culture of perinatal support in Italy and to directly offer free psychological support to bereaved parents.
CiaoLapo Onlus ( www.ciaolapo.eu ) in a non-lucrative (non-profit), non-religious charity organization founded in 2006 by Claudia and her husband Alfredo (a medical doctor as well) in the loving memory of their second child.
The goals of CiaoLapo are:
The Parent Advisory Committee has two main goals.
- To enhance international collaboration with support organizations who work with families who have experienced the death of a baby from causes relating to stillbirth (and other infant death, including miscarriage);
- To further the international reputation of ISA as the best single source of high quality information and referrals to credible worldwide resources for supporting families.
The PAC have a range of responsibilities, including:
- Identifing priority areas for how to network with individuals and groups seeking support from ISA with appropriate international resources;
- Overseeing and consulting on the bereavement portion of the program of the annual ISA Conference/meeting ensuring a high quality relevant program aligned with ISA objectives;
- Contributing quality information and resources to the web that support both families and groups/organizations who support families;
- Requesting volunteers and providing them guidance for projects that are more beyond the scope and time of the PAC committee members;
- Working with the SAC to create seamless messages to families that support them and respect their views and needs;
Participating in submitting articles to the newsletter as appropriate and reviewing it before it goes out.
If you are interested in being involved with PAC or volunteering your time please email PAC chair Liz Davis
Parent Advisory Committee Members
- Liz Conway, Australia (Co-chair)
- Sherokee Ilse, USA (Co-chair)
- Pauline Allman, Australia
- Line Christoffersen, Norway
- Vicki Culling, New Zealand
- Sue Hale, United Kingdom
- Ros Richardson, Australia
- Claudia Ravaldi and Alfredo Vannacci, Italy
Pauline Allman
Adelaide, Australia
Email : pauline.allman@stillbirthalliance.org
Pauline is a bereaved mother and grandmother living in Adelaide, South Australia. Pauline became involved with SANDS in South Australia following the death of her fourth son, Ben who had been diagnosed with microcephly. Pauline received a great deal of mutual support from SANDS not only to feel comfortable with her own grief, but also throughout a successful subsequent pregnancy.
Adelaide, Australia
Email : pauline.allman@stillbirthalliance.org
Pauline is a bereaved mother and grandmother living in Adelaide, South Australia. Pauline became involved with SANDS in South Australia following the death of her fourth son, Ben who had been diagnosed with microcephly. Pauline received a great deal of mutual support from SANDS not only to feel comfortable with her own grief, but also throughout a successful subsequent pregnancy.
As Pauline believes that mutual support is a very important part of the healing process for bereaved parents, she joined the committee of SANDS and later went on to train as a Support Worker offering mutual support to other bereaved parents for many years. Pauline assisted SANDS South Australia in the setting up of a website to enable bereaved parents to gain more information about the organisation.
Pauline is a past president of SANDS and now offers her services by representing South Australia on the SANDS Australia National Council.
Vicki lives in Wellington, New Zealand and has been involved with Sands New Zealand for around five years. Vicki and her husband Kevan experienced the full-term stillbirth of their first daughter in 1998.
Vicki has a background in social work, teaching and research, she has an MA (Applied) in Social Work and completed her PhD in a women's health topic. She was fortunate in winning a Vodafone NZ Foundation's 'World of Difference' award in 2006 which enabled her to work in a full-time capacity for Sands New Zealand as its National Project Coordinator. She is currently funded to develop a national integrated approach to pregnancy, baby and infant loss in New Zealand and sees her involvement in ISA as complementary to that role.
Liz Conway (Co-chair)
Brisbane, Australia
Email : liz.davis@stillbirthalliance.org
The passion that drives Liz comes from her own personal experience and the experience of the many parents she has come in contact with over the years she has been involved in the area of infant bereavement.
Liz and her family experienced the death of two babies some years ago and she has been involved in various roles in the support of bereaved parents since the early 90’s. Her primary goal is to ensure that parents receive the support they need when they experience the death of their baby. Educating health care professionals and improving the quality of support services for bereaved parents have been two of her focuses.
In her current working life, Liz is the coordinator of a support group for bereaved parents. She has been involved with the development of various programs, including two films which she hopes will enhance the experience of parents and assist in educating health care professionals and others.
Sherokee Ilse ( Co-chair )
Maple Plain, MN, USA
Email : sherokee.ilse@stillbirthalliance.org
Sherokee is the mother of three babies who died too early, Marama (miscarried), Brennan (full term stillborn), and Bryna (ectopic pregnancy) and two healthy children.
Motivated by her personal experience and a desire to bring more compassion, understanding, and support to bereaved families, she wrote the book, Empty Arms, a guide to help others live through the loss of their baby and heal. Over the past 25 years she has written many books/booklets through her company, Wintergreen Press, and she is an international speaker on the subject of pregnancy and infant loss.
Sherokee is also on the ISA board. She can be reached at www.wintergreenpress.com
Sue Hale
Nottingham, UK
Email : sue.hale@stillbirthalliance.org
Sue's second son, Matthew, was stillborn after a healthy, trouble-free pregnancy and no known reason was found. Initially, looking for her own support, she became involved in Sands, a UK based charity which offers support after a baby dies. Sands also works closely with health professionals to improve care and promote research to help save more babies lives.
As time passed Sue realised that she wanted to try to ensure that all parents were offered such support and ran a volunteer group for the charity for several years. More recently, Sue has worked on the national telephone helpline and has now moved into the area of group development, assisting parent led groups around the country.
Ros lives in Sydney, Australia has a background as a registered general nurse, working mostly in Accident and Emergency, Palliative and Aged Care areas. Following the stillbirth of her daughter, Ros developed the professional resource, Appropriate Care for Women and their partners when their baby dies, and the parent booklets Miscarriage and When a Baby Dies. In 1992, Ros and a group of bereaved volunteers successfully lobbied the NSW State Government for changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act, enabling parents of stillborn babies to receive a birth certificate for their baby in the state of New South Wales.
Ros is now employed as the Health Promotion Manager for SIDS and Kids NSW., a charitable, community-based organisation providing support for parents who experience the death of their baby during pregnancy, birth and infancy, up to 6 years of age. Ros’ team designs and implements services in the areas of bereavement support, education and training, advocacy and special project work.
Ros has a Graduate Diploma in Social Science (Community Services), completed a Master of Public Health in 2006 and is now completing a Master of Health Services Management.
Claudia Ravaldi and Alfredo Vannacci
Italy
Email : claudia.ravaldi@stillbirthalliance.org
Claudia Ravaldi, co-founder with her husband Alfredo Vannacci of the Italian stillbirth support organization, CiaoLapo Onlus. Claudia is the mother of three babies Giulio (2003), Lapo (stillborn 2006) and Guglielmo (2007). She is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, mainly working in the fields of eating disorders, anxiety and depression. She is also the author of several international articles and book chapters on psychiatric issues. After the stillbirth of Lapo, she decided to apply herself mainly to the field of grief, beginning the study and the clinical application of validated international protocols for perinatal grief support. Unfortunately, in Italy very few hospitals offer a structured service for parents' grief, so she decided to create with her husband a charity organization to spread the culture of perinatal support in Italy and to directly offer free psychological support to bereaved parents.
CiaoLapo Onlus ( www.ciaolapo.eu ) in a non-lucrative (non-profit), non-religious charity organization founded in 2006 by Claudia and her husband Alfredo (a medical doctor as well) in the loving memory of their second child.
The goals of CiaoLapo are:
- to promote research on stillbirth
- to offer psychological support to parents after stillbirth or perinatal death.