Rosa Caporicci, Registered Psychotherapist (NDG Therapy)

Every year, nearly 100,000 Canadian couples experience perinatal death, whether early (first 20 weeks of pregnancy) or late (between 21 weeks of pregnancy and the first six weeks of the baby’s life).  Despite the prevalence of this type of death and its psychosocial repercussions (a recent Quebec study found 16% of women who lost a child in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy had suicidal thoughts), international associations such as the International Stillbirth Alliance have for many years decried the gaps in support services for couples following a perinatal death (Centre for Studies & Research on Family Intervention and The Canada Research Chair in Family Psychosocial Health).

NDG Therapy in cooperation with Dr. Rosemary Reilly of the Applied Human Sciences Department at Concordia University presented The (un)Expected Project, an exhibit of artwork by perinatal loss parents, aimed at raising public awareness of the psychosocial needs of bereaved parents and to destigmatize the subject of perinatal loss and bereavement.