who we are/accolades/contributions

The two women looking for answers to miscarriage, who formed our group in 1985, would never have thought that our small not-for-profit, NGO incorporated society would still be needed in this century but we obviously are, from the information we get in feed back and statistics. Our website attracted over 20 million hits in the year 2010-2011 and our Forum had 133,000 postings and we sent out 12,000 ‘Understanding Miscarriage’ pamphlets.

Miscarriage Support Auckland Inc. is still a very small independent group of women volunteers of various ages and we have all experienced the loss of our own babies. We provide emotional peer support and information for women and their families and friends during and after miscarriage and also subsequent pregnancies. We understand the pain and isolation that often follows miscarriage while recognising that everybody's experience is unique. Our website is a reflection of our knowledge and experience and will hopefully be useful in helping you come to terms with your grief.

We accept volunteer applications for joining our group by email or phone and participation only entails 2 hours commitment per month for our evening meeting at North Shore’s Highbury Community House in Birkenhead. We have found that it is advisable for everyone’s benefit to have a gap of at least 2 years after a miscarriage before applying. Age is not necessarily a barrier as we all have our own stories, life experiences and skills and each member contributes a different viewpoint so that we cover as many aspects of dealing with miscarriage that we can. Please feel free to call Vonney during office hours for an initial chat followed by a short interview at our next committee meeting when we also supply an overview of our group and answer any questions. We are basically looking for women who are dependable, trustworthy (we are required to adhere to the Privacy Act which includes confidentiality), composed and empathetic.

To clarify why we only need committee members (with-out which we of course could not function); once our website went up in 2001 and we opened our Forum, our Support Meetings faded out as did our Supportline calls going from 5 per day to 5 per month. The latter calls are now responded to by trained counsellors at the ‘Pregnancy Centre’ in Ponsonby as we found that for those people who did not find their answers on our website, there was an expectation that a professionally trained person would respond.

There are now approximately ten miscarriage groups nation-wide in NZ (see ‘links & contacts’) and they all operate separately and differently. Some are dedicated to miscarriage, others offer miscarriage support as well as other services e.g. In Christchurch, miscarriage is a part of Sands (Stillbirth and New-born Death Support). We are the main group and offer others support, supply pamphlets and run the miscarriage website.

We are not supported by our government or any large body and we do not use professional charity collectors. Our books are audited annually and we spend our money on the basics such as phone/internet, power, specialist services (computer), small co-ordinator’s salary, advertising, pamphlet print runs, minimum administration and small volunteer expenses.

Our office is run from home so we do not have rental costs. We manage on funding from very limited and currently ever restricting sources, which we have to apply for along with thousands of other groups each year. We continually wonder if we will survive. 

Recently a businessman suggested we ask for help online and he feels that donations and endowments (suggested legal wording for a codicil) are the answer. As we are basically givers, not takers, and of a generation that were brought up to take care of ourselves, asking is quite difficult for us. It is a bit easier to ask on behalf of others. If you feel that miscarrying women deserve to have us around still, and if you wish to and can afford it, may we please request that you support us with any amount you feel you can. It does not matter how much it is. We will be grateful and so appreciate it. If you feel comfortable with it, please let us have your contact information so we can acknowledge and thank you personally.

Knowing that women and men do support us to support others, makes a difference to us too.

As our website and bulletin board are our largest avenues of communication, interaction is mainly impersonal, so when we do receive recognition by an accolade or donation, we get the ‘feel good’ feeling we all need to continue.
Your contribution reassures us that our commitment is worthwhile.

Thank you.
Kind regards and take care,
Vonney Allan,
President.

If you have found this site helpful and you would like to support us to continue our work helping others, your donation using a credit card via PayPal or a mailed cheque, will enable this site to continue and make a difference. We will be really grateful for your contribution. Thank you.

Payment details;
1. Please make cheques out to Miscarriage Support Auckland Inc.
2. Pay directly into our ASB account no.12-3035-0458138-00
3. Use our PayPal button below which also has a credit card option

Thank you for your support.

our aims

• To provide emotional and psychological peer support for women and their families during and after miscarriage and also subsequent pregnancies, offering them suggestions to help with healing, rather than rescue them, and giving them hope for the future.
• To promote understanding in the community about the consequences of miscarriage and the resulting grief for women and their families
• To help achieve a greater level of understanding on the part of health professionals about the psychological consequences of miscarriage on their patients, so they do not minimize or invalidate their patients’ feelings.
• To act as advocate
• To promote a more appropriate name that would better describe and validate our feelings such as 'premature stillbirth'. (As a group we feel the word 'miscarriage' does not adequately or sensitively describe what is often the trauma associated with an early pregnancy death. What we experienced was both a birth and a death.)
• To order information about setting up a new support group in your area.

Download the 2 sided, A4 pamphlet 'Understanding Miscarriage' which provides a synopsis of this website suitable for lay readers. You will need Acrobat reader to view this PDF.
Order pamphlets here.




contact details

Postal address: Miscarriage Support Auckland Inc,
P.O. Box 35 434 Browns Bay, 0753 Auckland, New Zealand.
Office phone and fax: (09) 360 4034

email: Vonney provides email support. (Before contacting us, please go through the site thoroughly as most information is at your fingertips.)

Free TXT 234: Please enter the word 'miscarriage' first in your message for the right person to receive it, then your name, a preferred number to call you on and a suitable contact time. We will reply within 24 hours.

NZ Forum: share your thoughts on our forum (NZ only)

Supportline: (09) 378 4060 (NZ only)

Support groups: find the group nearest to you (NZ only)

We are very grateful for the continuing support of the following organisations.