Overview:
This full-day training is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals who provide care and support to New Jersey families experiencing perinatal loss. After attending this program, participants will be able to:
• Define the five types of perinatal loss
• Implement communication skills with parents and family members
• Explain the ethical dilemmas that can occur in infant losses in the NICU
• Explain best practice for supporting families with pregnancy after loss
• Summarize the documentation required for final disposition
• Describe the steps of memory making for families
• Develop tools for staff and parent follow-up
• State the essential components of discharge education
Speakers & Presenters:
• Jennifer Sherlock-Loeb - Jennie Sherlock-Loeb is the Chief Clinical Officer at The Cooperative, where she focuses on Clinical Education, Fetal/Infant Mortality Review, and Nursing Leadership. Prior to this role, Jennie served as childbirth educator and bedside nurse in labor and delivery and mother-baby. She achieved her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from West Chester University in 2011, and a Master of Science in Nursing from Drexel University in 2015, with a focus on Nursing Leadership & Health Systems Management. Jennie is Board Certified in Inpatient Obstetrics and utilizes her clinical expertise with the development of educational programs and initiatives. Recently selected to the AWHONN Decreased Fetal Movement Initiative as a Stakeholder, Jennie is dedicated to the future of the nursing profession and its impact on maternal-child health outcomes.
• Katharine Donaldson - Kathy Donaldson is an advanced practice nurse that has practiced in the field of perinatal bereavement for 40 years. She is an experienced caregiver and support person and has taught healthcare professionals about perinatal loss regionally and nationally.
• Ann Coyle - Ann Coyle has worked at Virtua for over 40 years as a NICU nurse and Manager of Perinatal Bereavement Programs. She recently obtained a certificate in Grief and Loss Studies through the Center for Loss and Life Transition. She has been pivotal in initiating the Palliative Care Program, Rainbow Baby Program and facilitates 2 support groups for loss parents. She lives in Audubon with her husband Tom, is the mother of two and proud grandmother of three.
• Sarah Muller-Robbins - Sarah is the Director of Clinical Education at the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey. Sarah has spent her 25-year career providing care and support to families in the inpatient and community settings as a nurse, lactation consultant, and childbirth educator. She currently directs the professional and clinical education programs at the Partnership.
• Kara Hennessy, MSN, RNC-OB is currently an Education Specialist for Obstetrics at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC). Prior to that, she was a Labor and Delivery nurse at HUMC for 15 years. Kara was one of the founding members of the L&D/NICU Bereavement Committee at HUMC and has been actively involved in Perinatal Loss and Bereavement training since 2014.
• Kristen Samuelson - Kristen Samuelson has more than eight years’ experience serving hundreds of families as a peer advocate through Three Little Birds Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support. As co-founder, Kristen oversees executive functions including virtual and in-person support, legacy projects and coordination of the Bedside Bereavement Program. She has authored several publications including the pregnancy and infant loss journal, "A Nest for my Heart", "As our Nest Grows", a pregnancy after loss book and "Remembering Baby Bird", a book for siblings. Kristen developed the Perinatal Bereavement Training Workshop for Medical Professionals and Advocates to bring quality bereavement care to birthing hospitals throughout the region. As a bereavement doula, she advocates for the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of perinatal loss families through resources and local support that offsets financial burdens for perinatal loss families. Professionally, she has more than two decades of marketing experience and proposal writing in the engineering and construction industry.

Course Completion Requirements: Successful Completion
To receive contact hours/CEs for participating in the continuing education program, the participant must be registered, attend the entire program, and complete and submit an online evaluation. A certificate of completion will be distributed within two weeks of the program.

Continuing Education for Social Workers:
We have applied for consideration of 2 Generalist CE credits and 1 Social and Cultural Competence CE credit through ASWB ACE.

Registration Deadline: April 13, 2026

Cancelation Policy: If you are unable to attend the training session for which you registered, please notify the educational provider at least 48 hours prior to the session's start date. Registrants have the option to send an eligible participant to attend the session in their place or to defer registration for a subsequent training date. Please contact profeducation@thecooperative.org with the replacement's contact information within 24 hours before the session start date.

$35 registration fee is not refundable.