Sands Training and Education Team

Johanna Symanowski

Lead Trainer

Johanna has over 20 years’ experience in Learning and Development in many sectors including corporations and public sector and brings this experience to creating training and education content for Sands. She is passionate about supporting parents following a bereavement and improving maternity care standards through education.

lisa rich portrait — Lisa Rich

Healthcare Education Lead

Lisa is an experienced Registered Midwife with a passion for reducing the risk of perinatal death and improving bereavement care for families experiencing pregnancy and baby loss. Lisa progressed her career into the field of maternity bereavement, working as a Specialist Bereavement Midwife for 5 years. Whilst leading a hospital maternity bereavement service, Lisa implemented the National Bereavement Care Pathway, gained working knowledge of the MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Mortality Review Tool, and created and delivered training and educational resources for healthcare professionals and students. Lisa is responsible for the delivery of education programmes in hospitals, universities, and other related organisations across the UK, supporting professional development, enabling continued improvements in practice and helping save babies’ lives.

Marc Harder

National Bereavement Care Pathway Project Lead

Marc has been the UK Lead for the National Bereavement Care Pathway at Sands since March 2017, responsible for developing, piloting, evaluating and rolling out the pathway, initially in England. The pathway covers five experiences of pregnancy and baby loss: miscarriage, TOPFA, stillbirth, neonatal death and SUDI and has now been adopted by more than 60% of NHS England hospital trusts. More recently the pathway has been launched in Scotland, where four early adopter sites are testing its guidelines and resources. Marc previously worked for many years as a Children’s Services Manager in Local Government and project manager in the private sector.

Clare Worgan

Head of Training and Education

Clare’s previous career was in civil engineering as a project manager. However, when her daughter was stillborn she was inspired to become a midwife and started her midwifery degree the following year. Early in her midwifery career, Clare realised her passion for bereavement care and joined the team at Sands, initially as a Trustee and now as the Head of Training and Education. Clare is an advocate for trauma-informed maternity care and believes that communication, compassion and informed choice are vital for the wellbeing of bereaved parents and families.

Kate Stanton

Sands Trainer

Kate Stanton has been involved with Sands in a number of different roles since 2004. First as a parent following the death of her son Louis shortly after birth and then as a befriender, Kate now works as a trainer for Sands, delivering Befriender Training to bereaved parents and Bereavement Support training to Health Professionals. This combines her professional background as an experienced children’s nurse and trainer with her passion for accessible, quality support for parents after the death of their baby at any stage of pregnancy.

Sophia Cross

Sands Trainer

Sophia has a background in education across a variety of disciplines including coaching, bereavement, safeguarding, and parenting. She has a particular interest in counseling and is currently undertaking a Foundation Degree in Integrative counseling practice. Sophia became involved with Sands after the stillbirth of her son Fred and has been a Sands Trainer since 2015. Through her volunteering work and her work as a Trainer, Sophia has seen firsthand the impact of grief, and the importance of good bereavement care for long-term emotional well-being.