Care OutLoud

In this deeply human and heartfelt episode, Mary sits down with clinical psychologist and NICU parent Frankie Harrison, founder of Miracle Moon, a global online support community for families navigating life after neonatal care. Frankie shares her powerful personal journey—from a traumatic pregnancy marked by preeclampsia, to a six-week NICU stay, to the emotional aftermath that reshaped not only her identity as a parent, but her entire professional path.

Together, Mary and Frankie explore:

• What it means to experience trauma before, during, and after the NICU

• Why so many parents don’t realize they’re experiencing trauma until long after discharge

• How anxiety, hypervigilance, dissociation, and grief often hide beneath the surface

• The cultural and clinical barriers that make parents feel unseen, dismissed, or “palmed off”

• The healing power of community, validation, and meaningful attunement

• The critical need for clinician training, nervous-system literacy, and emotionally attuned care

• Why support shouldn’t end at NICU discharge—and what true post-NICU “rehab” might look like

Frankie also shares the evolution of Miracle Moon—from an Instagram page to a global community providing trauma-informed resources, peer support, and evidence-based guidance for the long arc of healing that follows neonatal care.

This conversation is a profound reminder that trauma-informed developmental care is not only for babies—it’s for parents, clinicians, and entire systems. And that healing happens in connection.

• NICU trauma as both a psychological and physiological experience

• Dissociation, survival mode, and why parents often can’t “take things in” while hospitalized

• The overlooked emotional labor of clinicians

• Shame reduction through validation and shared experience

• The need for rupture-and-repair in healthcare relationships

• Why birthdays, transitions, and milestones often retrigger trauma

• Strategies for rehumanizing clinical spaces

• How community care can become a lifeline

Frankie Harrison, CPsychol, is a UK-based clinical psychologist and founder of Miracle Moon, a groundbreaking online community providing trauma-informed support for NICU families worldwide. After her own traumatic pregnancy and NICU journey, Frankie transformed her career to focus exclusively on neonatal trauma, parent mental health, and nervous system healing.

Miracle Moon offers resources, videos, community spaces, and evidence-based guidance for families navigating life during and long after the NICU.

Important Links:

• Miracle Moon: https://www.miraclemoon.co.uk⁠
• Follow Frankie on Instagram: @miraclemoonuk 
• Podcast: https://www.miraclemoon.co.uk/podcast
• LinkedIn

• Learn more about Trauma-Informed Developmental Care

If this episode resonates with you, please share it with a NICU parent, clinician, or advocate who could use the validation and support. And don’t forget to rate and review the podcast—it helps amplify trauma-informed conversations that change lives.

In this deeply moving episode of Care OUTLOUD, Mary sits down with Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez—author of From Rollercoasters to Carousels—for a heartfelt exploration of trauma, healing, and the transformative power of human connection.

Gigi shares her journey through profound loss, her time in the NICU as a parent, and how those experiences inspired her to write a book that offers both solace and guidance for families and clinicians alike. Together, Mary and Gigi unpack what it means to “care out loud” in the face of suffering—to bring compassion and humanity into systems too often driven by data and efficiency.

This conversation is an invitation to slow down, to listen deeply, and to remember that healing is not linear—it’s a lifelong dance between grief and grace, between breaking and becoming.

Highlights include:

• The emotional realities of NICU life and how trauma manifests in silence.

• The invisible load families—and clinicians—carry long after discharge.

• How biases and systemic inequities shape the caregiving experience.

• The intersection of compassion, presence, and advocacy in trauma-informed care.

• Gigi’s insight that “compassion first, wisdom second” opens the door to true healing.

About Gigi:
Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez is an occupational therapist, leadership and organizational wellness coach, and the author of From Rollercoasters to Carousels: A Journey Through the Emotions of the NICU and Beyond. Her work centers on emotional wellness, equity, and the universal experience of healing.

Resources Mentioned:

• From Rollercoasters to Carousels (available wherever books are sold)

• Gigi’s website: https://familiesblossoming.com/

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review.

We’ve been told the age of frontiers is over. The land has been mapped, the oceans charted, the digital frontier coded into our lives. But what if the greatest frontier has been here all along—not out there in unexplored territory, but in us?

In this first episode of Frontiers of Humanity, Mary Coughlin invites you to consider a radical shift: that the next great frontier isn’t about conquest, invention, or expansion. It’s about courage, presence, and rehumanization.

Mary reflects on the history of frontiers as spaces of extraction and conquest, and contrasts that with a new possibility: a frontier rooted in care, belonging, and collective flourishing.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why the old frontier model—expansion at all costs—is no longer sustainable

• How the real work of progress is expanding what it means to be human together

• Why care, belonging, and justice are not side issues but frontiers in their own right

• An invitation to reflect on your own role in crossing the frontier of humanity

Check out her blog post on this topic HERE

Reflection Prompt:Where do you see the frontier of humanity opening in your own life or work?

Subscribe & Share:If this episode stirred something in you, share it with someone who’s also searching for a new way forward. And stay tuned for future episodes where we’ll explore the frontiers of care, belonging, healing, and democracy.

In this powerful episode of Care OutLoud, Mary sits down with Professor Dieter Wolke, a pioneering developmental psychologist whose research has shaped our understanding of prematurity and its lifelong impact.

Professor Wolke reflects on his early work in the 1980s, when he challenged the medical community to consider the NICU environment not just as a site of survival, but as a place where sound, light, and human connection profoundly shape infants’ futures. From there, he shares insights drawn from decades of longitudinal studies—including the Bavarian Longitudinal Study, now following participants into their late 30s.

Together, Mary and Professor Wolke explore:

• The origins of developmental care in the NICU and why environment matters.

• The concept of a “preterm phenotype”—hidden vulnerabilities that may not show up in standard follow-up, but shape social integration and well-being.

• How parental trauma and overprotection can echo across a child’s life.

• Why prematurity is not destiny—and how parenting, school support, and peer relationships can alter life trajectories.

• The urgent need for extended follow-up, case management, and societal investment beyond NICU discharge.

This conversation is both grounding and inspiring—a reminder that small moments of care, advocacy, and support can change life courses.

Interesting Links:

1. Barda et al. (2025). The impact of socio-environmental factors on brain structure over the early life course of preterm-born individuals - A systematic review 
2. Stegmann-Woessner et al. (2025). Forever premature: Adults born preterm and their life challenges 

1. Wolke et al. (2019). The Life Course Consequences of Very Preterm Birth
   

CARE OUTLOUD: The Heart of It All – Final Episode

This final episode is both a love letter and a challenge—to see ourselves as healers, citizens, and co-creators of the future.

Mary reflects on the REIMAGINE vision, The People’s Declaration, and what it means to leave a legacy of care and courage.

Because we are the ancestors of tomorrow—and the future is being written now.

Want to go deeper?

If this series has stirred something in you, consider becoming a Trauma-Informed Professional (TIP).

TIP 2.0 is a transformative certification program that weaves science, soul, and skill to help you lead change—at the bedside, in your community, and in the world.

• Learn more or enroll HERE

• Download the reflection guide

CARE OUTLOUD: The Heart of It All – Solo Series with Mary Coughlin

Language shapes more than just conversations—it shapes culture, care, and possibility.

In this solo reflection, Mary explores how the words we choose—chart notes, labels, policies, and even the casual phrases we speak—can either create connection or perpetuate harm.

This episode invites you to pause and consider: What story are we telling with our language? And what story do we want to tell?

🎧 Episode 5: Language Is Care - REFLECTION GUIDE

Want to go deeper?

If today’s episode stirred something in you—about how you write, speak, or lead—it might be time to explore what it means to become a Trauma-Informed Professional (TIP).

The TIP 2.0 Certification program weaves science, soul, and skill into a transformative journey for clinicians, educators, and change-makers ready to lead healing through language, presence, and action.

Learn more or enroll at → ⁠https://www.caringessentials.net/tip-certificate-program⁠

#BecomeATIP #TraumaInformedLeadership #HealingIsResistance

CARE OUTLOUD: The Heart of It All – Solo Series with Mary Coughlin

When we talk about trauma-informed care, we must also talk about belonging.
In this solo reflection, Mary explores how premature babies—and so many of us—are born into systems that were never built for us. The wound of exclusion runs deep, but healing begins with remembering: you were never meant to earn your place here. You already belong.

This episode weaves stories from the NICU with generational patterns of disconnection, introduces the FACES–SPACES–PLACES framework by Lisa Cherry, and offers a gentle, powerful invitation to reclaim and redesign spaces of belonging—from the bedside to the ballot box.

🎧 Listen in for soul-tending truth and one bold call to action.

Affirmation

I do not have to shrink to fit in.I belong in the fullness of who I am—and I can create space for others to belong, too.

Call to Action:

• Make space. Amplify a voice that’s been left out. Say, “You belong.”
• Access the reflection guide: HERE
• Learn more about trauma-informed belonging: HERE

This episode is for the caregivers—the ones who show up with open hearts and weary bones.

I invite you into the paradox of caregiving: how the very thing that fuels your purpose can also deplete your reserves. And how honoring your tenderness isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom.

You’ll explore what it means to set boundaries without guilt, why emotional fatigue is not failure, and how the Tender Edge of care is actually where healing begins.

A balm and a challenge for anyone carrying the weight of the world.

Call to Action:
Before you step in, step back. Let your body lead.

DOWNLOAD The Reflection Guide HERE

Want to go deeper?

If today’s episode stirred something in you—
a remembering, a reckoning, a call—
you might be ready to become a Trauma-Informed Professional.

The TIP Certification program weaves science, soul, and skill
into a transformative journey for clinicians, educators, and changemakers
who are ready to lead healing—from the bedside to the boardroom.

Learn more or enroll at: [TIP 2.0 Program Link]
#BecomeATIP #TraumaInformedLeadership #HealingInAction #TIP2Point0

Neutrality may feel like safety—but in trauma-shaped systems, it often reinforces the very harm we say we want to heal.

In this solo episode, Mary Coughlin unpacks the myth of neutrality in clinical care, professional culture, and civic life. Drawing from decades of trauma-informed practice and recent personal truths, she explores how care disrupts systems built on disconnection—and why presence can never be passive.

This episode is an invitation to speak one truth you’ve been holding.
In a whisper or a roar—but speak it.

In this episode, Mary reflects on:

• Why trauma-informed care is never truly apolitical

• How systems reward silence, and what it costs us

• The illusion of neutrality in healthcare and beyond

• How care becomes an act of disruption

• The politics of presence—and the quiet courage of speaking truth

  
  

🎧 LISTEN + SHARE

📝 Download the Free Reflection Guide

🔗 Stay connected:

• Website: https://caringessentials.net/

• Newsletter: Monday Musings & News

• Instagram: @caring.essentials

• #CareOutLoud #TheHeartOfItAll

In this inaugural episode of Care OUTLOUD's The Heart of It All solo series, Mary Coughlin explores the profound connection between trauma and healing, science and soul, care and courage.

Mary challenges the notion that love is merely sentimental, emphasizing its role as a first medicine and a powerful agent against trauma. She argues that real love involves presence, protection, and relational regulation and is an act of defiance against systems that do not reward love.

The episode calls listeners to reflect on their understanding and practice of love and to take actionable steps to embody it in their everyday lives.

00:00 Introduction to Care Out Loud

00:30 The Biology of Love

00:47 Love in the NICU

01:44 Challenges in Systems

02:12 The Power of Love

03:42 Call to Action

04:30 Conclusion and Next Steps

Links and Resources

• WEBSITE
• Reflection Guide

• Transcript