Nicola Whitworth

Founder & Facilitator

Nicola Whitworth has been facilitating groups and working with individuals as a creative therapist for over 30 years.  She studied at the Institute of Group Analysis in Group Dynamics and holds a Certificate in Counselling Skills from Birkbeck College, University of London. She more recently trained at the national Child Bereavement UK charity in ‘Advanced Facilitation’ Skills for Bereavement groups’, in ‘Traumatic Grief,’ and in ‘The Impact of Suicide on Families’.

Following the death of her daughter Naomi Grace in 2005, Nicola Whitworth co-founded SLOW to support bereaved parents.  Nicola facilitates the North London SLOW support groups and provides training on parental bereavement to charity and healthcare professionals.  As well as her work for SLOW she is an honorary member of the National Child Death Helpline volunteer staff and as a Grief Support Practitioner at Angus Lawson Memorial Trust and Rosie’s Rainbow.  Nicola is a member of the Mindfulness Practitioners network.  She teaches Mindfulness and has developed a Mindfulness for Grief programme.

Susie Hanson

Founder & Facilitator

Susie founded SLOW with Nicola Whitworth to support bereaved parents after the death of their daughters, Naomi Grace and Bella Patricia. Susie nursed and tended to her daughter Bella’s many complex health issues till her death. 

With three other children of varying ages, she greatly understands the complexities of severe childhood illness and the impact of a child’s death within the family.  She has been facilitating SLOW groups for many years and has presented to professionals in the field of bereavement on the impact of child bereavement in families. 

Susie trained with Great Ormond Street Hospital Child Death Helpline to work on their helplines and has a certificate in counselling skills from Birkbeck college. Susie has worked in the voluntary sector for many years and passionately supports the industry.

Nikki Peterson

Director

Nikki is incredibly passionate about supporting individuals through their grief. She is an ICF trained coach who specialises in Grief, Loss and Change coaching. In 2006, Nikki went into very premature labour at 23 & ½ weeks, her daughter Rosie lived for 6 days, she was too little and too poorly to survive. Rosie continues to be a big part of Nikki’s family and she has shaped the work Nikki does today.

Alongside Nikki’s SLOW work, she runs her private coaching practice (TigerBee Coaching), where she works predominantly with parents who have experienced baby loss, at any gestation or age.

She is married to Nik who was a huge support at the time of their daughter’s death, even though they grieved so very differently. They have two living daughters, Tiger and Betsy, and a son, Bruno.

Erica Stewart

Facilitator

Erica Stewart is a bereaved parent and mother to Baby Shane who died following major heart surgery at eight weeks old in 1983.

Erica has 25 years’ experience working with bereaved parents and families at Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity).  She started working as a volunteer on the Sands Helpline in the mid 90’s, and after 2 years was employed by Sands and worked her way up to Bereavement Support and Awareness Specialist working across all Sands teams.  During Erica’s time at Sands she also co-facilitated the South East London Sands support group.

Erica trained at CBUK in Advanced Facilitation Skills and is a qualified Counsellor, and says that she “hopes to bring all her skills, knowledge and experience to SLOW”

Amber Dobinson-Evans

Facilitator

Amber’s one-year-old son Freddie died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2017 – he had Dravet syndrome a rare genetic epilepsy. Finding SLOW not long afterwards was hugely important for Amber to navigate life as a bereaved parent and make connections with others. She was a long-time attendee at in-person and online support groups before becoming a facilitator herself.

With an ongoing interest in genetic testing and improving rare disease diagnosis Amber joined the Patient, Parent & Carer panel for NHS North Thames Genomic Medicine Service Alliance in 2021. Her role helps inform decisions across development and organisational work. She’s also part of the advisory group led by Genetic Alliance for the NHS Rapid Genome Sequencing (RGS) testing programme for critically ill children as it begins nationally.

For many years Amber worked in the creative arts mostly with independent filmmaking training, participatory film projects, film festivals and events. After her son’s death, she made a slow shift in direction wanting to offer support to other families like her own – she now has certificates in Advice and Guidance and Peer Mentoring through City Lit College, London.

In recent years she’s combined experiences and worked on creative and exhibition projects linked with wellbeing and grief including at Hackney Museum and St Joseph’s Hospice. At Shoreditch Trust she worked with the wellbeing support programme ‘Peace of Mind’ as well as their ‘Bump Buddies’ peer mentoring scheme for vulnerable new mums in East London in partnership with local NHS teams.

Sian Gill

Facilitator

Sian is a bereaved parent and mum to two boys: Carter the eldest and Kian who is 18 months his junior. Kian died on the 15th of May 2015, following a collision with a car whilst riding his bike in the countryside.

Sian’s background was in pastoral care in a busy high school, however after losing
Kian she joined Great Ormond Street Hospital’s ‘Child Death Helpline’ in 2018
to support bereaved parents and their families. This work naturally led her into pursuing a new career, Person Centred Counselling.

Alongside Sian’s SLOW work, she now runs her own private practice (My.counselling), where she works 1:1 online, telephone and in person with clients aged 14 onwards, who are looking to improve their mental health and well-being.

Gabriela Avilés

Facilitator

Gabriela is a bereaved mother who lost her 22-year-old son Álvaro unexpectedly, in 2020. She first attended SLOW groups that same year and has been a participant since then. SLOW’s support has been crucial to her, and she now embarks on a journey as a facilitator.

Gabriela is an advocate for community support and her ongoing interest in the
field has taken her to work and volunteer in non-for-profit organisations for more than 20 years.

Her background in Social Communications allowed her to embark on opportunities in education and the arts, and she most recently trained in Transpersonal Arts for Health and Well Being at Tobias School of Art and Therapy, in West Sussex. She currently lives in London with her family and dog companion.

Shushma Jain

SLOWsibs 18+ Facilitator

Shushma is a bereaved sibling.  Her brother Arvind, who had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, died from medical negligence in 2009 at the age of 13.  Shushma attended her first SLOW group with her mother shortly afterwards.

Shushma was a Learning Support Assistant and then a Special Needs teacher, in the same school for 19 years, a role she loved. She left that post to home educate her daughter in 2020.  

She was previously a trustee and volunteer sibling contact for The Compassionate Friends (TCF), where she supported bereaved siblings via phone/email, edited the sibling magazine and ran supportive retreats. She continues to facilitate the TCF adult sibling groups voluntarily.

She recently said, “SLOW held my hand during my darkest time and gave me hope, something I now want to do for other bereaved siblings”.

Samina Iqbal

Facilitator

Samina Iqbal is a bereaved parent and mother to Amani who died in 2020 from strangulation.

She joined SLOW in 2022 and found it to be a ‘safe space’ within a supportive community, where her grief and her love for her child could be shared in an accepting environment.

Samina has completed David Kessler and Alex Howard’s course on traumatic grief, Gabor Mate’s course on trauma, and regularly listens to podcasts on grief. She has also attended many SAMM National meetings, retreats and  memorial services for victims of homicide.

Samina runs a cookery school, providing a healthy eating program for primary school
children. She also works for Home-Start teaching their vulnerable families how to
cook.

Previous experience includes being an International Taxation consultant for a top
accountancy firm in the city for several years, as well as chairing meetings for a women’s networking group helping them foster and further their businesses.

Since the loss of her daughter, Samina has chosen to focus on turning her painful life
experience into purpose.

Anais Hall

Facilitator

Anais Hall is mother to Lucca and Ayla, who died of a rare bone Cancer when she was 17. After caring for her through harrowing treatments, a leg amputation and subsequent terminal diagnosis, Anais watched in awe as she dealt with her probable death with such courage while also trying to live as a ‘normal’ teenager. Anais came to North London SLOW soon after Ayla died and found it to be a lifeline in the very fragile early days. After moving back to Wales ,where her children were born and grew up, she attended online support groups.

Anais is a self-taught herbalist, and after her daughter was diagnosed, she threw herself into gathering lots of information about supporting cancer alternatively, including a nutrition course and becoming a massage therapist. She went on to volunteer at a charity that offered treatments to those with or recovering from cancer, as they had supported herself and Ayla considerably.

As well as SLOW a facilitator, she works part-time as a Session leader running volunteer groups at a variety of community gardens. She works with groups of individuals with diverse needs and health issues teaching them to grow fruit and vegetables. With learning new skills, exposure to nature and general wellbeing as a common goal.

She has a lot of plant knowledge and is a keen gardener and naturalist, believing in the healing powers of nature. She hopes to bring some of this to the groups and support others as Slow has always done for her.

Helena Morais

Facilitator

Helena Morais is a writer and founder of Maila’s Present, where she creates compassionate personalised baby loss books and culturally aware spaces for parents after baby loss through creative writing workshops that centre on gently continuing bonds.

Her first born daughter Maila Angela Viana Morais, was stillborn in 2022, due to a placenta abruption. Helena is currently studying a Birth and Bereavement course by ‘Stillbirthday’, to improve her understanding of the different layers of baby loss and how best to support families. Her aim is to support doulas and midwives to strengthen their education around compassionate care in the moments that matter.

She has experience creating resources for workplaces and speaking at universities, conferences, and charity events. Her collaborations include Tommy’s, Sands, 4Louis, Held in Our Hearts and Ebony Bonds Support. She is also currently working as an MNVP Maternity Lead at Whipps Cross hospital with the hopes to bridge the gap between parents and adequate care in maternity, especially aftercare following loss. Helena strongly believes in humanising baby loss and advocating against the invisibility of this grief.

Emma Parkin

Facilitator

Emma is a bereaved parent and mum to two boys. Her eldest, brilliant and beloved son, Sam, died suddenly and unexpectedly a month before his tenth birthday due to complications from an undiagnosed condition called malrotation. In the months that followed, Emma began attending SLOW groups, where she found support, understanding, and truly wonderful people. The community she discovered there became a lifeline, and she is now deeply honoured to begin her journey as a SLOW facilitator.

Emma has spent the past 30 years working in TV production and charity communications, and she is currently undertaking a foundation course in counselling. She lives in London with her family and a devoted, and decidedly needy, cat.

Barbara Hatcher

Facilitator

Barbara worked as a Mental Health Nurse for 32 years, working with individuals and in group settings, supporting clients with a host of mental health issues. She also worked for four years as a Funeral Arranger, supporting families at the worst time of their lives.

She is now retired. She enjoys her garden, which is her therapy. She loves reading and long walks with her dog, Teddy. Barbara and her husband enjoy time away in their motorhome.

She is Mum to Nathan, who is forever 23 years old.
Nathan was taken from her and his brother, Simon, on 20 June 2015.

He had been on a night out with friends when, sadly, he made a bad choice and got into a car with three of his friends and a drunk driver. Within 10 minutes, Nathan and two of his friends had lost their lives.

She has spent a lot of time working with the charity Brake since his death, working towards tougher sentencing laws for those who cause death by dangerous driving. Two years ago, the law was finally changed. She also supports charity events every year in Nathan’s memory.

Barbara feels lucky that Simon and his partner, in 2023, brought into her life a beautiful granddaughter called Ruby, who is the bright light shining in her life.

Cat Kayum

Facilitator

Cat lost her 7-year-old son, Louis, to Neuroblastoma in 2018, after 3 1/2 years of on-off hospital treatment. She lives in London with her husband and older son.

Cat has a background as a children’s speech and language therapist, working in south London with Sure Start and Children’s Centre projects. Following Louis’ death, she moved into working with adults as a social prescribing link worker, as part of GP surgery teams. This involves supporting individuals to identify and make changes and linking them with relevant services. She also joined a research project led by a specialist nurse, looking at how to support parents in making difficult treatment decisions when their child has relapsed with Neuroblastoma.

Cat found great support through weekly SLOW meetings, valuing the wisdom of other bereaved parents and the shared space to explore experiences and emotions.

Sarah Gosling

SLOWsibs 18+ Facilitator

Sarah is a bereaved sibling after her older brother died following a car accident at the age of 18. In response to the lack of support on offer to bereaved children back then, Sarah has been keen to find an opportunity to help others who find themselves in a similar position.

Sarah has spent the last 13 years working in the sportswear industry. However, after reflecting on her own personal experiences she felt a strong desire to take a more human-centric approach to design, so decided to undertake her master’s in design for Health and Wellbeing. Her main focus within this course is on conducting design research aimed at improving products and services for the community.

Sarah is married to Paul, and they have three young children Esmé, James and Alex.

Emma Damian-Grint

Fundraising Support

Emma is our fundraiser at SLOW, here to help all our community supporters and raise vital funds through grants and corporate donors. Originally from London, she now resides in Sheffield with her two small children.

Over the last 20 years, Emma has worked across the charity landscape in fundraising, communications and marketing. Most of this time has been dedicated to supporting charities that work for people with genetic and rare conditions. These conditions invariably have a huge impact on family life, and life expectancy. Emma’s passion for ensuring bereaved families get the support they need is driven by this experience.

Emma is working closely with Nikki and the Trustee Board to ensure that SLOW’s services are available to all bereaved parents and siblings who need them. She is interested in hearing from anyone who has a corporate contact that may be able to help, a fundraising idea or wants to embark on one of our challenge events.

Philippa Murray

Chair of Trustees

Pippa joined SLOW as a Trustee in 2012, initially taking on the role of Treasurer for two years. She has a background in central government, having held a number of senior posts in HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs. Pippa was also a member of Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Transformation Board between 2008-2012.

She was an Emeritus Trustee of the Brain Tumour Charity having served as a Trustee between 2008-2022, chairing its Information and Support Sub-Committee and serving as a member of the Research Sub-Committee, having a degree in Biochemistry. She is also a non-executive director of Dasic Marine Limited, a marine engineering business based in Hampshire. Pippa took a career break when her 15-month old son, Lawrence, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She cared for him until he passed away in September 2007 aged 3 years 9 months. She was an early member of SLOW.

Tim Whitworth

Secretary and Facilitator

Tim has many years’ experience working with the public sector and supporting and advising new and small enterprises. A qualified training practitioner and executive coach, he worked with the Office for Public Management for over 9 years and now has his own consultancy and training practice running master classes in political and stakeholder engagement, doing more with less, commercial awareness and innovation skills for a number of large local authorities & NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and providing team and performance coaching for health and local authority senior management teams.

In addition to facilitating SLOW groups, Tim has used his personal experience of the diagnosis and loss of his daughter Naomi in running a bereaved dads support group, dads.care since 2011.

Cicilia Wan

Trustee

Cicilia has worked as a Human Resources Executive in the Financial Services industry for over 20 years. Her career has taken her all around the world, but she is now settled in London. She was introduced to SLOW through The East London Business Alliance, which connects local charities with workers at major institutions with an interest in volunteering.

As a mother, Cicilia has a deep appreciation for the lifeline that SLOW extends to bereaved parents and is proud to support the work that they do.

Paresh Pithiya

Trustee

Paresh was looking to get involved with a charity where he could make a long-lasting difference, and when he came across SLOW, he felt very passionately about what they were doing. He was drawn to the lifeline SLOW provides when parents and siblings cannot see how to move forward with life. Paresh understands the trauma of losing a child having lost his daughter in 2014 and how this impacts bereaved parents. Paresh joined SLOW as a Trustee in December 2021 to help the charity grow and reach more people who are suffering from their loss of their child or sibling.

Elise Soucie

Trustee

Elise is the Global Director of Policy and Regulation at GBBC Digital Finance.  She has a background in technology, policy, and finance, and previously held roles in other charitable organisations, and aims to utilise this experience as a SLOW trustee.

Throughout her life she experienced loss of her cousins as a child, nearly losing her own brother to cancer, and loss of a close friend to overdose while in university. These experiences with bereavement drew her to the mission of the organisation when she was introduced to SLOW through The Big Alliance.

Lizette Nolte

Trustee

Lizette is a Clinical Psychologist, lecturer and researcher who connected with SLOW initially when University of Hertfordshire became their research partner.

She has worked clinically and in her research in areas of loss, bereavement, parenting and family wellbeing all her career and is proud to be involved with SLOW.

Lizette is a bereaved sibling, and bears witness to the impact on her parents and wider family since her sister, Anli, died in 2003.

Sebastian Lewis

Trustee

Sebastian has over 20 years of expertise in energy and commodities research and consulting, including eight years in a leadership role in China for Platts, a division of S&P Global. Now based in London, he specialises in consulting across sustainable energy and renewable fuels.

Sebastian was drawn to SLOW through his own experience of childhood bereavement, having lost his mother at a young age. This personal connection to loss motivates his commitment to SLOW’s mission of supporting bereaved families. Sebastian joined SLOW to apply his strategic leadership and analytical skills to help expand the charity’s reach and impact, ensuring more bereaved families can access the support they need.

Robin Willard

Trustee

Robin is a lawyer working in financial regulatory litigation. Robin currently works at the Financial Conduct Authority and has previously been employed at a range of international organisations, including time spent living and working overseas.

Robin was introduced to SLOW through the East London Business Alliance and, drawing on his own experiences of loss and grief, felt a strong affinity to the work of SLOW.

Andrea Katsifli

Trustee

Andrea is a newly appointed Trustee at SLOW and is a risk and governance specialist with 10 years in financial services, known for leading complex change with collaborative delivery.

Beyond her professional remit, Andrea is a strong charity partner at work. She has hosted multiple department‑wide charity days & fundraisers, earning a reputation for encouraging generous donations – especially when there’s a card machine involved!

Before Andrea’s career in financial services, Andrea served as a full‑time volunteer for a youth education charity called City Year. Placed in an inner‑city school, she supported youth development and learning, including speech and language therapy, in-class assistance and supporting extracurricular school clubs.

Andrea is passionate about channelling her professional and charitable skills into SLOW’s mission, while keeping its focus on compassionate support for bereaved parents and siblings.

Laura Skaanild

Trustee

Laura is a solicitor and has a background in financial services and insurance, bringing this experience to benefit SLOW.

As a mother, Laura recognises support that SLOW extends to bereaved parents and siblings and was drawn to SLOW through her own experience of loss and grief. Laura was introduced to SLOW through the East London Business Alliance, feeling a strong affinity to the work of SLOW.

Jason Watkins & Clara Francis

Patrons

Our patrons, Jason Watkins and Clara Francis, lost their two-year-old daughter, Maude, tragically and unexpectedly to Sepsis in 2011. Jason and Clara, have attended numerous support groups and have raised thousands for SLOW through inspiring fundraising events.

Jason is an award winning British stage, film and television actor and he dedicated his 2015 BAFTA to Maude. Jason is also a Sepsis Trust ambassador raising awareness of Sepsis to prevent further deaths.  Clara is an actress and designer of exquisite intricately-beaded jewellery.

Clara recently said, “SLOW is a place that offers practical help and huge support to people when they need it the most.  I will forever be indebted to SLOW and the incredible work they do”.

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