Pink Elephants founder Samantha Payne named Business Women’s Award winner
A pioneering force behind Australia’s only charity supporting women and couples through early pregnancy loss has been named a winner of the 2019 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards.
Southern Courier
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A pioneering force behind Australia’s only charity supporting women and couples through early pregnancy loss has been named a winner of the 2019 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards.
Botany resident Samantha Payne co-founded the Pink Elephants Support Network with Gabbi Armstrong in 2016 after experiencing her second miscarriage.
Ms Payne said the idea of the charity was driven by a lack of similar existing services at the time.
“I had just suffered my second miscariage and I was really dismayed there was nothing out there that supported people through early pregnancy loss,” Ms Payne said
“I randomly connected with Gabbi through Facebook, we met for coffee and there was just a huge level of empathy and understanding that no one else had given me at that point.
“We felt all couples should have that. By the end of that coffee the idea of Pink Elephants came about.”
What began as a small support network has gone on to help 10,000 couples across Australia and countless more through social media.
Nearly one in every four pregnancies ends in miscarriage yet Ms Payne said the silence surrounding early pregnancy loss still remains.
“I think one of the reasons early pregnancy loss isn’t spoken about is that people often don’t know how to talk about it,” she said.
“We offer the validation that it matters.
“(A miscarriage) can come with intense periods of distress. For me it manifested as nightmares, sweats, panic attacks. It was terrifying.
“On top of going through hormonal changes you feel like you can’t function on a day to day basis. It’s heart wrenching.”
Ms Payne, who now has a five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, said the support offered through Pink Elephants included networking, resources, education and awareness programs.
The charity is also in the process of launching an outreach program to become a referral pathway for GPs.
“We took our grief and loss to create a positive change for other women. The award is a huge celebration of what the network has achieved,” Ms Payne said.
The business women’s award was received in the social enterprise category. Ms Payne and Ms Armstrong are also finalists at the national awards in May.
For more information on Pink Elephants visit www.pinkelephantssupport.com.
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