Healing Soles is a community-led walking group that offers bereaved parents a safe, inclusive, and compassionate space to connect, heal, and move, physically and emotionally through grief. Soft launched in May 2025, the group is facilitated by our Peer Support Work Lead (a bereaved parent herself) and will meet weekly at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. ...
Red Tree Foundation: A SIDS & Kids SA Initiative
Healing Soles: Walking together through grief
GOAL
$8,400
Australia > SA > Metro and Regional
Field of Interest
- Community and economic development
- Individual/family services and support
Target Population
- General population
- Not applicable
Red Tree Foundation: A SIDS & Kids SA Initiative
At Red Tree Foundation: SIDS & Kids SA, we stand beside families in their darkest moments, providing free, specialist grief and loss support for those who have lost a baby or child, suddenly and unexpectedly, from conception to 17years. Every year, we support hundreds of bereaved parents and their families, offering compassionate counselling, peer support, and evidence-based safe sleep education.
We are the only South Australian grief and loss specialist service offering in person, face to face, counselling support to bereaved parents in their home and in our counselling rooms. We also offer telehealth and phone support. Our Masters level trained counsellors are specialists in the field of grief and loss and provide empathetic, supportive counselling.
Our mission is to provide education, training and information about grief and loss to foster a more compassionate, empathetic, and educated community and to empower the community to make informed safe sleep decisions for infants in their care.
Our work is critical. Grief doesn’t just affect families; it ripples through communities, workplaces, and society. By investing in our programs, you’re ensuring that no family walks this path alone and that life-saving education reaches those who need it most. We provide Safe Sleep training to child care centres, parents, grandparents and the community. In addition, we provide workplaces with grief and loss training to support their employees that suffer a loss.
Together, we can make a profound difference, honouring little lost lives, supporting healing, and creating a future where fewer families endure this heartbreak.
Project Summary
Healing Soles is a community-led walking group that offers bereaved parents a safe, inclusive, and compassionate space to connect, heal, and move, physically and emotionally through grief. Soft launched in May 2025, the group is facilitated by our Peer Support Work Lead (a bereaved parent herself) and will meet weekly at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
The group fosters connection through gentle movement and shared experience in the calming environment of the gardens. Participants are not expected to talk or perform, just to show up and walk beside others who “get it.” The group also provides access to informal peer support and is designed to reduce social isolation and increase wellbeing for parents and grandparents grieving the death of a baby or child.
Grief, particularly following the death of a baby or child, is a deeply isolating experience. Bereaved families often struggle to find connection in their communities and are at increased risk of poor mental health, family breakdown, and chronic physical illness.
Research shows that movement and community connection can play a powerful role in grief recovery. Healing Soles combines both. Inspired by lived experience and backed by a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach, this group meets a crucial community need with minimal barriers to access.
Healing Soles is designed to grow over time with low-cost scalability. Future plans include expanding to other walking locations and training additional volunteer peer facilitators.
Project Outcomes
Project Objectives
- Deliver weekly facilitated walks across the year, each led by our trained Peer Support Work Lead
- Create safe, supportive opportunities for bereaved parents to reduce isolation in the Botanical Gardens
- Support early intervention and mental wellbeing through connection, routine, movement and being outdoors
- Provide a referral pathway to other Red Tree Foundation supports (e.g. counselling, peer groups)
Outcomes & Impact
- Direct support for up to 100 grieving family members annually
- Increased emotional resilience and physical wellbeing among participants
- Strengthened community networks among grieving families
- Reduction in stigma around grief and child loss through visibility and storytelling
- Expansion of trauma-informed peer support offerings in South Australia
Why Fund This Project?
This project blends community health, mental wellbeing, lived experience, and innovation. It fills a gap for grieving parents, especially those who may not yet be ready for formal support but still need a compassionate space. With your support, Healing Soles will continue to walk beside those learning to live after loss.
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $10,400
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Red Tree Foundation | $2,000 |
| Funding Gap | $8,400 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Staffing | $3,825 |
| Evaluation & administration | $1,370 |
| Supervision, professional development and training | $1,700 |
| Resources for group participants | $1,500 |
| Marketing, outreach & materials | $1,300 |
| Incidentals (parking, transport- $15 per week over 47 weeks) | $705 |
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