The Australian bereavement-services landscape for pregnancy and infant loss is small but specialised. Three organisations run most of the dedicated services, and they coordinate with each other rather than compete.
This guide is the practical map — what each does, when to call which.
Sands Australia
Sands Australia is the dedicated organisation for pregnancy and infant loss support in Australia. It runs the longest-standing peer-support network in this space, started by parents who experienced loss themselves.
Support line: their website lists the current number and hours.
What's available:
- Telephone peer support with someone who has experienced loss
- Online and in-person support groups, including for dads and partners
- Bereavement information packs (sent by post or available as PDF)
- A list of Sands-trained hospital bereavement midwives by region
- An annual remembrance event in October (Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month)
Who calls Sands: parents at any point — the same day, a month later, decades later. Grandparents, siblings of the baby, friends of the family. There is no gestational-age threshold and no time-since-loss cut-off.
Red Nose Grief and Loss
Red Nose Grief and Loss is the bereavement arm of Red Nose. It covers stillbirth, neonatal death, SIDS, and the death of a child up to age 6.
Support line: advertised as 24 hours a day, every day of the year — a dedicated round-the-clock bereavement line for pregnancy and infant loss. Check rednosegriefandloss.org.au for the current number and any temporary changes.
What's available:
- 24/7 phone counselling with bereavement-trained counsellors
- Up to 12 free counselling sessions per family (phone or in-person where available)
- Peer-support groups
- A library of bereavement resources written by AU clinicians
- Specific resources for siblings, including age-appropriate explanations for children
Who calls Red Nose Grief and Loss: anyone affected, at any time. The 24/7 line is often the first call after a 3am wakeup with grief.
PANDA — Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia
PANDA supports the mental-health dimension of perinatal experiences, including pregnancy loss, postnatal depression, anxiety in pregnancy, and birth trauma.
Support line: open most days of the week (opening on public holidays except Christmas Day per PANDA's own page). Their website lists the current number, weekly schedule and hours (Melbourne time, so AEST or AEDT depending on the season). Hours do change — panda.org.au/contact lists the current ones.
PANDA is NOT a crisis service. For immediate crisis support — active thoughts of self-harm, suicide or being unable to keep yourself safe — contact Lifeline, which is open 24 hours, or emergency services if you are in immediate danger. PANDA's own page directs immediate-support needs to Lifeline.
What's available:
- Helpline staffed by counsellors trained in perinatal mental health
- A self-checklist to help recognise when grief has tipped into clinical depression or anxiety
- Information about Medicare-rebated mental-health plans via your GP for longer-term support
- A directory of perinatal mental-health professionals around Australia
When PANDA may be the right call: if the grief is sitting alongside any of the following — persistent intrusive thoughts, sleep loss not explained by a newborn or physical recovery, panic episodes, an inability to look after yourself or your other children, or if you had a pre-existing anxiety or depression diagnosis that has flared since the loss. (For thoughts of self-harm, call Lifeline first — see above.)
Lifeline — for crisis moments
If you are in immediate distress and the services above are not open, Lifeline runs a crisis line 24 hours a day. They are not pregnancy-specific but they are crisis-trained and they will not rush the call.
In a medical emergency (severe bleeding, severe pain, suicidal thoughts you cannot manage alone), contact emergency services.
A practical note on what these services give you
None of the people on these lines will rush you. None of them will try to fix the grief. Some calls last five minutes. Some last an hour. There is no script you need to follow before calling, and no level of distress you have to reach before you're "allowed" to ring.
If the first call doesn't feel like the right fit, try another service — you don't have to wait, and the three organisations refer to each other often. Red Nose Grief and Loss is the one advertised as open around the clock if it's late or a weekend; Lifeline is available if you're in immediate distress.