Stronger Together: Why Collaboration and Community Matter to Simba Charity
At Simba Charity, we are dedicated to honouring and remembering babies who have died at any stage of pregnancy or shortly afterbirth. We do this through the provision of beautiful, made-with-love memory boxes, offering families a tangible way to create and preserve precious memories during an incredibly difficult time.
On average, we provide around 3,000 memory boxes every year to hospitals, homes and communities across Scotland. While each memory box is carefully created with love and compassion, our work goes beyond the box itself. It is about supporting families, recognising their loss and ensuring that every baby is remembered and valued.
This is why collaboration is so important to us.
We believe that meaningful change happens when people come together. No single organisation, service or individual can meet every need alone. By working alongside bereaved families, healthcare professionals, community organisations, volunteers, charities and other partners, we can create stronger networks of support and make a lasting difference to the people we serve.
We are delighted to attend the Scottish Community Link Worker Network Conference, an important opportunity to connect with others who share our commitment to community-led support. Events like this allow us to exchange ideas, learn from the experiences of others and strengthen the relationships that are so important to effective community work.
Our services are rooted in communities because communities understand their own needs best. We are committed to listening to the people we support, learning from their experiences and ensuring their voices help shape what we do. We recognise that every family’s experience of loss is different, and that support needs to be compassionate, accessible and responsive.
Collaboration allows us to build on the strengths that already exist within communities. Whether we are working with hospitals, health and social care professionals, community link workers, local organisations and volunteers, partnerships help us connect families with the right support at the right time.
For us, collaboration is also about relationships. Trust takes time to build, particularly when supporting people through grief. We want the families who receive our memory boxes to feel heard, respected and valued. We also want our partners to feel that they are part of a shared purpose.
We also know that collaboration creates opportunities for learning. Every partnership brings different perspectives and experiences, helping us reflect on our work and identify ways we can continue to improve. We value professional expertise, but equally value the lived experience of families and individuals. Bringing these perspectives together makes our work stronger.
Ultimately, our approach is about people. Through our memory boxes and our wider connections across Scotland, we want to ensure that anyone experiencing baby loss know that their babies matter, their grief matters and they are not alone.
We look forward to attending the Scottish Community Link Worker Network Conference, sharing our work, learning from others and strengthening the partnerships that help us deliver services rooted in the communities we serve. Together, we can make a greater difference—and ensure every baby is honoured and remembered.
