ARC Christmas Appeal 2024

Christmas Appeal: supporting the healthcare professionals who care for you

Can you help us raise £3,000 to train and support professionals?

“One of the midwives sat with us and she seemed to know exactly when we wanted it just to be us and exactly when we needed another person… she held me and she hugged me and I cried on her. It was very, very important to have that human element.”

As a result of your generous donations, ARC has continued to expand our support to parents facing heartbreaking decisions about their pregnancy in 2024. Thank you to everyone who donates.

But did you know that we also support antenatal healthcare professionals? As underlined so clearly in the quote above, we know how key compassionate, patient and knowledgeable medical care is to feel supported, both physically and emotionally. ARC therefore runs a ‘Sensitive Communications’ training programme for all health care professionals. The aim is to increase their understanding of the complex and distressing experiences that their patients face. Our confidential helpline and online ‘Case Cafes’ are also for professionals, to help support them to provide high-quality care in what can be challenging circumstances.

Vital though our work with professionals is, our training receives less focussed financial support than our parent-centred services. So this year our Christmas Appeal is to raise money for ARC’s professional services. In 2023-24 we ran 67 training sessions and supported over 1,400 professionals and students: this December, can you spare just £5 or £10 to ensure that in 2025, we can offer more training UK-wide?’ You can donate easily here.

During our training, we share first-hand parent testimonies and videos with professionals, who let us know how impactful these are on their work:

“I’ve a greater awareness of the distress and confusion that parents may feel when faced with an unexpected scan finding or diagnosis… the training days also challenged me to reflect on my own personal values and beliefs so I feel that I am much more able to support my patients.”

From nearly 40 years of working side-by-side with hospitals, we know it takes time and training for professionals to gain the confidence and competence needed to provide individualised l care. NHS training budgets are tight, however, so we try to subsidise our training to ensure that as many professionals from across the UK can access it. We often hear from parents how valuable – and memorable – non-judgemental and empathetic care is to such a distressing time in their lives:

“Even with supportive staff it’s one of the hardest things to go through – I can’t imagine what it would have been like if the staff hadn’t treated the situation respectfully so I think it so important that staff are given the training and women have a choice on how they terminate the pregnancy”  

If we can raise at least £3,000 this Christmas, we can run at least 6 more face-to-face and online sessions in 2025 to hospitals across the UK. 

To support this goal, why not make ARC your chosen charity this Christmas and donate? It is very easy to donate online or by calling 020 7713 7356. 

Thank you and Merry Christmas from the ARC Team