Thank you for your interest in the role of telephone support contact for The Miscarriage Association. The following notes will tell you a little more about what this task involves.

If you would like to know more, contact The Miscarriage Association and we will send you our detailed Telephone Contact Guidelines, which will help you decide if you would like to volunteer in this way.

some requirements

Anyone wishing to be a telephone contact should:

• be a registered individual member of The Miscarriage Association (the membership fee is currently £20 per year)
• have personally experienced miscarriage or ectopic or molar pregnancy
• wish to help others by offering understanding and support (not counselling or advice) from their own phone at home.
• read through the Guidelines, for Telephone Contacts and agree to abide by their recommendations

some questions to ask yourself

Being a telephone contact can be very rewarding, but before committing yourself, you may want to consider the following:

• Have I come to terms with my own loss/es enough to be able to support others through theirs? (Everyone is different, but we would suggest waiting at least six months after your loss before thinking of becoming a contact.)
• Am I a good listener? Can I let someone talk about her/his feelings without interrupting, and without feeling I must tell them what I went through?
• Am I willing to tell callers something about my own experience if this is what they request?
• Can I suppress any strong personal, moral or religious beliefs, since these may offend some callers?
• Can I cope with taking all sorts of calls? Some will come at inconvenient times; some may be very distressing; some will be lengthy. Some callers may be upset at hearing young children in the background.
• Can my partner/family accept that I might be on the phone a lot? Will they understand that some callers may be very distressed and need my undivided attention?
• If I have an answerphone, can I afford to call people back if they leave a message? (We can give you hints on how to keep costs down.)

some suggestions

• Read The M.A. newsletter and leaflets which will help to keep you up to date with information and in touch with the needs of others who have suffered miscarriage.
• Read some of the books on the booklist. You should be able to get them through your local library.
• Contact a contact! Ask her/him to tell you about her/his experience as a contact.

One of the best ways of finding out more is to attend one of our Introductory Days on volunteering.

and finally

If you think you might like to help in this way, contact The Miscarriage Association and we will send you the Guidelines for telephone contacts. Further information is not currently available on-line.

Please contact The Miscarriage Association by phone, post or e-mail for further details.