Aubrey Sessanna, a senior at Franklin Community High School, holds some of the artwork and poetry she dropped off to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health in early December. Sessanna created blankets, painted canvases, poems and more to give to bereaved mothers and parents at the hospital.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Surrounded by overwhelming grief and sadness, even the smallest comfort can make a difference.
Aubrey Sessanna knew she couldn’t give much. But the Franklin Community High School senior thought that with her time, and her talents, she could lift up mothers who had lost a child.
“I can’t imagine how hard it must be going through something like that. Just to be able to help these grieving mothers and their families, I wanted to make a difference any way I could,” she said. “I wanted to be able to help in some way.”
As her senior project, Sessanna created blankets, painted canvases with uplifting messages and wrote soothing poetry for Pathways of Hope, the perinatal bereavement program for the Riley Maternity Tower at Riley Children’s Health. Her handiwork has already been distributed to mothers in the program, and the hospital intends to continue passing out items as long as they last.
Bereavement is not something most people think of, and it’s even more rare for teenagers to bring it to light, said Rebekah Delaney, Pathways perinatal bereavement clinical coordinator at Riley Maternity Tower. Indiana faces a public health crisis regarding perinatal infant loss, and through her compassion, Sessanna has shined a spotlight on the issue, Delaney said.
“I speak about perinatal loss and the importance of bereavement navigation at the bedside every day, all day to everyone I know. But it’s not something teenagers are commonly interested in,” she said. “So when I had a teenage girl that wanted to do something for bereaved mothers, it made me feel like someone is listening. Indiana is waking up to a public health crisis.”
More importantly, it has provided kindness for people facing unfathomable situations.
“Whenever I’m working with a mom, I tell them that they’re not alone in this journey and there are people in the community who care about them,” Delaney said. “For the past week, I’ve been able to tell them that this blanket your baby is in was made by a teenage girl who cares about moms going through a loss.
“It’s very moving for moms to see that there are so many people, of all different ages, who truly care about them.”
Heading into her senior year, Sessanna started pondering different approaches to her senior project. Every senior at Franklin must complete a service-based learning project as part of their graduation requirements. Those projects may include volunteering at local agencies or giving their time to community causes.
Sessanna knew she wanted to focus on helping others in some capacity related to health care.
“I have a couple family members who have worked in health care and have heard stories from them,” she said. “It was easy for me because I already had family members in the field, and I thought it would be fun and meaningful.”
Her idea was to use her creativity to make a variety of items for families in Riley’s bereavement program. Pathways to Hope is a program that aims to meet the emotional needs of grieving families after the loss of a pregnancy or child. In her work, Delaney hopes to bring bereavement into the public light and make the grieving process less painful.
“In my role, I meet people where they are in their grief journey. I tell them, I’m going to be their companion. I will help you, I will guide you as you make your decisions. We’re going to take this at your pace,” Delaney said.
She crocheted soft blankets, hats and booties, and painted colorful and loving canvases, She also wrote poems of hope on decorated cards. One of the poems spoke to the idea that although a baby’s time on earth was short, they are forever imprinted on the hearts of those who loved them.
“The more time I spent on this project, the more I wanted to do,” she said on a social media post about her work.
Sessanna approached her grandmother, Kelly Knight, for help. Knight is a manager of clinical operations for the Riley Maternity Tower labor and delivery unit, and could serve as a conduit between her granddaughter and Riley.
She came to Delaney asking what she thought of the idea — emphasizing that it was a high school student wanting to take it on.
“I was so surprised, because I’ve never had a teenager reach out to me about bereavement. Ever. I went into my office and cried,” Delaney “It was so meaningful to me that a senior wanted to do her senior project on bereavement.”
Sessanna and Delaney spoke and worked out timetable and parameters of the project. Over the course of about three months, Sessanna worked on the different items, trying to complete as many as she could before December.
Knight would provide weekly updates, and sent photographs of what she was working on.
“It was really meaningful to me what she was doing,” Delaney said.
In early December, she brought all of her work to the Riley Maternity Tower. She was able to meet much of the maternity staff, and spent time talking with Delaney about her work.
Pathways of Hope has approximately 30 to 40 bereavement cases each month. With each one, Delaney tries to create mementos and to foster beautiful memories that families can take home with them.
Sessanna’s work lifted a burden.
“It’s really hard for me to keep up with the crafting and the mementos, just because I’m the director. I’m reaching out to the community, I’m doing a lot of grief support, I’m doing a lot of nursing navigation for moms even before they get here,” Delaney said. “What Aubrey did was help make a lot of these mementos.”
Delaney stressed how beautiful she thought every piece was.
“I told her, ‘I hope you realize you’re a change agent. What you’re doing seems so small — you’re just doing a senior project, but what she did was not just a senior project. It was collaborating with the state of Indiana, it was taking women’s mental health seriously, it was helping Riley Health system,’” Delaney said. “It was a beautiful project that she did.”
AT A GLANCE
Pathways of Hope
What: A perinatal bereavement program that aims to meet the emotional needs of grieving families after the loss of a pregnancy or child.
Where: Riley Maternal Tower, Riley Children’s Health
Who: Rebekah Delaney, Pathways perinatal bereavement clinical coordinator at Riley Maternity Tower
How to help: Those who wish to help the program can contact Delaney at [email protected].
