August 13, 2019

Making Mental Health More Visible: Healing After a Miscarriage

Current statistics show that 1 in 4 pregnancies currently ends in a miscarriage. Far too often, doctors are unable to identify why women miscarry. There are few solutions to this heartache for many women around the world. This battle is personal, hard, painful and physically exhausting. I, myself, have never been pregnant but have experienced this heartache second hand as I have watched my oldest sister experienced two miscarriages within 8 weeks of each other. The first time it happened I was in Disneyland and I got a phone call from my mom explaining that my sister was going through something extremely difficult. She told me what had happened. I was devastated and immediately called my sister. She was really quiet, didn’t say much, and I could tell she was broken in some way that I couldn’t fix. She assured me it would be okay, and that her husband was there for her. A few weeks later, we got another call from my sister saying that she had once again gotten pregnant, strangely, and had miscarried again. I wanted so badly to be able to fix her pain, take it away, not let her suffer anymore.

 I could not imagine what she was going through. I wanted to learn how I could help so I decided to do some of my own research. 
I found that there are a lot of women who experience this kind of pain. I am sure every situation is different but it seems the pain feels the same. For example, I just searched “Miscarriage” into the search bar on Twitter and here are some of the results I found. 

 
After reading these, I realized that there isn’t any real solution to the loss of a miscarriage except for connection. I created a video depicting the power of connection using my sister and her family. 



Using her friends and, most importantly, her family, my sister has been on the road to both physical and emotional recovery. It has been a long process and one that will continue in the months to come, I believe that using love and connection, she will heal.



[Video created by Caitlin Thomas]


 I personally think that experiencing the loss of a miscarriage is a topic in the world of mental health that is not discussed enough and I truly do not think there are enough resources provided to women who experience this. Considering it is so common, I truly believe this is something we need to make more open and comfortable to talk about. I think as humans we reject speaking on topics that make as uncomfortable because they are hard and we don’t want to say the wrong things. However, this is a topic that I believe we can make more visible as we push to be more understanding and educated on the topic.


Be there for people who have experienced loss. Don’t try to fix their pain, but simply be there as a support. Let them speak about their feelings and take the time to let them know you care. Become educated and continue to help make these topics more visible in our communities. 

shine on, 
glitter girl 


Below are a list of resources available to those who may have experienced the loss of a miscarriage:
Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

No comments: