From Loss to Lifeline: Kimberly Stevens and the App Built from Love

Kimberly was a finalist in the Health and Wellbeing Warrior category at the 2026 JSP Women’s Awards and was awarded the Founder’s Story Award.

Some stories begin with ambition. Others begin with heartbreak. Kimberly Stevens’ story begins with love and loss and the courage to keep showing up when life changes forever.

In 2021, Kimberly’s teenage son Ethan passed away from leukaemia just nine weeks after his diagnosis. The moment she held him as he died reshaped everything. “Child loss is not something you overcome,” Kimberley says quietly. “It’s something you learn to integrate and carry for the rest of your life.”

As a psychologist with more than 30 years’ experience across Child Safety, Youth Justice, Queensland Health and private practice, Kimberly understood grief professionally — but living it was something else entirely. When she returned to practice, she noticed something profoundly missing in the support landscape for bereaved parents. “Parents kept describing the same need,” she explains. “Timely, local, face‑to‑face peer connection — someone who truly understands because they are walking the same road.”

From that gap, Kids Connecting Parentswas born.

Designed over three years and launched as a trauma‑informed digital platform, the App helps parents and carers living with child loss to find and connect with each other locally, wherever they are in the world. Using geolocation and protected social connection tools, parents can choose to seek support, offer it, or both — deciding how, when and with whom they connect.

“Empowerment, for me, is being offered choice, being heard with respect, and being trusted to walk my own path,” Kimberly says. “That belief guided everything about the App. It creates a safe space where parents remain autonomous — it doesn’t replace therapy, it complements it.”

The need is immense. In the past 20 years, more than 586 million parents globally have experienced child loss. For many, especially those in rural and remote communities, meaningful support is limited or unavailable. Since the App’s launch, parents across Australia and internationally have found their way to each other — and in Kimberly’s local region, it has led to regular face‑to‑face gatherings where bereaved parents join together in shared understanding, having coffee, walking, or doing yoga.

“I see anguish and deep sorrow,” she says, “but I also see determination, compassion and sparks of light. We are stronger together.”

The App’s journey has not been simple. Kimberly describes herself as a “quiet achiever,” someone who never sought the spotlight.

“My intention was to build the App, retreat into my grief, and let it work its magic,” she reflects. “That’s not how it unfolded.” For the App to thrive, Kimberly had to step forward — overcoming a lifelong fear of public speaking and the vulnerability of sharing her grief openly. “It’s a complex dance,” she says, “to feel deep gratitude  for something that only exists because of the loss of your child.”

Yet she continues because Ethan continues with her. “Ethan never wasted a day,” Kimberly shares. “He always found time for footy training or laughing with his mates. He never gave up wanting to live — and neither will I.”

For Kimberly, wellbeing has always been rooted in connection. “Social connection is one of the most protective factors for good mental health,” she explains. “Meaningful connection is my focus — personally and professionally.” Through the App, she has channelled her grief into purpose, creating a bridge between parents who might otherwise walk alone.

Her approach to empowering women is gentle but resolute. “I want young women to know that showing up exactly as they are is more than enough,” she says. “That strength and softness can coexist, and self‑compassion always trumps perfection.” She lives this through authenticity — modelling emotional expression, boundary‑setting, and alignment with personal values.

In community and industry, Kimberly has always shown up quietly and consistently — as a volunteer, committee member, mentor, clinician and leader. Over the past 25 years, she has guided and taught emerging practitioners and continues to mentor women through programs like Isaac Women in Leadership. “There is something powerful that happens when women wholeheartedly support other women,” she says. “I’m passionate about giving that — and deeply grateful to receive it.”

When asked what advice she would give her younger self, Kimberly’s answer is tender. “I would tell her that everything is going to be okay,” she says. “To anchor inwards, stand tall, and know without question that she is already enough.”

At the heart of Kimberly’s story is a simple, enduring truth: love does not end with loss. It transforms. Through courage, compassion and unwavering commitment, Kimberly Stevens has turned personal tragedy into a global act of care — showing grieving parents that even in the darkest moments, connection is still possible, and hope can still find its way through.

Kimberly has recently been invited to present the App and its early findings at the annual European Grief Conference in Portugal in September 2026.

The conference focus is on responding collaboratively to local and global challenges which the App is designed to do. While some parents are already connecting across Europe, this will expand awareness of its availability and be a great opportunity for Kimberly to showcase the Apps practical application to the scientific research and community response bereavement networks across Europe.