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Petals
Customer Story
Petals

How Petals Charity Unified Complex Operations to Support More Families

Discover how Petals, a specialist baby-loss counselling charity, replaced dozens of spreadsheets with a unified, structured Kinabase system to streamline operations, automate repetitive tasks and focus on delivering care to bereaved families.

Key results
10k+
Families supported
500+
Monthly sessions
10+
Spreadsheets replaced
Industry
Charity
Company size
20–50
Employees
Headquarters
Swaffham Bulbeck
Cambridgeshire
Key Features
Client ManagementWorkflow AutomationReportingCommunications

The impact on Petals has been truly transformative. What began as a solution for client management has evolved into a comprehensive system that now supports numerous additional aspects of Petals' operational processes—all within one unified platform. By replacing the multiple systems and fragmented spreadsheets previously relied upon, Kinabase has streamlined the way the charity works, creating greater efficiency, consistency, and control across the organisation.

PM
Paula Mothersole
Head of Partnerships and Operations, Petals
Overview

Petals relied on numerous spreadsheets across different team members, creating duplication of data and a lengthy process to create reports for their stakeholders.

Kinabase enabled Petals to build a bespoke data structure mirroring their exact terminology, relationships and pathways, with automated workflows ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

Replacing dozens of spreadsheets with a unified system, freed the team to focus on delivering specialist counselling.

About Petals

Petals is a specialist charity providing free, expert counselling to parents affected by pregnancy or baby loss. The organisation offers support for miscarriage, poor pregnancy diagnosis, stillbirth, neonatal loss and antenatal anxiety after previous losses.

What began as a local NHS service has grown into a national provider delivering more than 500 counselling sessions each month. Guided by compassion, clinical expertise and a commitment to equality of access, Petals ensures bereaved parents receive timely, tailored care.

With over 10,000 people supported to date, the charity is recognised as a pioneer in specialist baby-loss counselling and a leader in improving mental health outcomes across UK maternity services.

The Challenge

Petals operated within a highly complex, multi-stakeholder environment spanning hospitals, NHS Trusts, regional partnerships and varied client pathways. Their operations were previously reliant on numerous spreadsheets managed by different team members, resulting in high levels of duplication introducing an increased risk of error.

Crucially, they needed dependable, structured reporting to validate funding and demonstrate service impact. However, no existing off-the-shelf system could support their unique, nuanced data model.

The challenge was clear: how could Petals continue their high level of service whilst scaling their support to reach more families in need?

The Approach

Working closely with Petals, the Kinabase team conducted a series of detailed workshops to understand their use of spreadsheets and systems, translating their data and processes into a unified and accurate data model.

Complex client pathways were rebuilt using automations that manage reminders, actions and reporting at every stage, creating an end-to-end system tailored to how the charity operates and scalable for future growth.

Petals now manages all core elements within one unified platform:

Contacts and client records — a complete view of every family receiving support
Counsellors and sessions — scheduling and tracking of all counselling activity
Structured pathways and triage data — consistent processes from referral to completion
Regional partnerships — hospitals and NHS Trusts linked directly to the cases they support
Workflows for supervisions and contract reviews — administrative processes tracked consistently

By centralising these interconnected entities, Petals has replaced a maze of spreadsheets with a cohesive system, that is simple to use, provides quick access for reporting and supports everyday service delivery.

The Solution

Kinabase gave Petals the ability to build a bespoke data structure that mirrored the exact terminology, relationships and pathways of their real-world service model.

Multiple entities, including clients, referrals, sessions, counsellors and funding routes, could be linked seamlessly. Automated reminders, tasks and client-journey workflow helped ensure nothing fell through the cracks, whilst integrated email and SMS communication created a smoother experience for both staff and families.

Unlike rigid off-the-shelf solutions, Kinabase could adapt to Petals' existing workflows and clinical terminology, rather than forcing them to change how they operate.

The ability to tailor and manage access for different members of the team has been particularly invaluable, ensuring staff have the right level of visibility and responsibility within one secure system. Kinabase has fundamentally changed how Petals operates, enabling the charity to work smarter and more effectively while remaining focused on what matters most: providing compassionate, expert support to bereaved families.

PM
Paula Mothersole
Head of Partnerships and Operations, Petals
The Impact

Petals now operate with a unified, structured system that replaces dozens of spreadsheets and manual processes. The key outcomes include:

Reduced administrative burden
automated pathway handle reminders and actions, freeing the team from repetitive tasks
Consistent communication
integrated email and SMS ensure families receive timely, reliable contact
Reliable reporting
audit-ready data validates funding and demonstrates impact to stakeholders
Increased capacity
teams can focus on delivering specialist counselling rather than manual reconciliation
Scalable operations
the system supports future growth as Petals extends its reach to more families
Managing access
different members of the team are able to access all information stored in one platform
Single
Source of truth
Hours → mins
Stakeholder reporting
Unified
Operational engine

The use of Kinabase across the organisation has grown and is now used across all operational aspects. As a result, Kinabase is really the go-to platform for everything operational.

Communication with clients is faster and more consistent, and structured workflows ensure every family receives timely, high-quality support.

Mike, Gabriel, and the entire Kinabase team have been exceptional throughout this journey, providing outstanding training, ongoing development, and unwavering support. Their professionalism, reliability, and commitment have been deeply impressive—they are consistently accommodating, helpful, and dependable, making them an invaluable partner to Petals.

PM
Paula Mothersole
Head of Partnerships and Operations, Petals

We're proud to support Petals in their vital mission and honoured to play a small part in helping them deliver care to families across the UK. For more information about Petals and the support they provide, please visit their website.

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