Care OutLoud

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 a...

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 cou...

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 profoun...

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 ...

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 st...

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 stor...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

What happens when the person expected to be the protector is left out of the story entirely?

In this heart-opening episode of Care Out Loud, Mary sits down with Alex Zavala, founder of The NICU Dad, to spotlight the overlooked yet vital experience of fathers navigating the NICU.

From the trauma of separation and silence to the transformative power of peer support and advocacy, Alex shares his personal journey from NICU parent to nat...

In this heart-opening episode of Care OutLoud, host Mary Coughlin sits down with Mary Jenner—pediatric nurse turned visionary entrepreneur and founder of The Butterfly Pig. What began as a creative spark to help children understand their medical care has evolved into a trauma-informed movement transforming pediatric healthcare through play.

Mary shares the moving origin story behind The Butterfly Pig, how medically accurate toys lik...

Episode Summary:In this profoundly moving episode, Mary Coughlin sits down with Dr. Emma Jones — palliative care physician, mother, teacher, and author of The Phoenix Blueprint — to explore the raw truths behind burnout, healing, and reclaiming wholeness. Together, they unpack what it means to hit bottom not in a single moment, but over years of self-sacrifice, disintegration, and depletion. Emma shares her personal journey from co...

In this final episode (for now), Mary Coughlin explores the profound importance of 'holding' as a central act of care and connection. She discusses the journey from the womb to the incubator, highlighting the need for emotional and spiritual nurturing in NICUs and beyond. The episode touches on themes of justice, belonging, and resilience, emphasizing that true healing and growth begin with the ability to hold space for one...

In this episode of 'Womb to World,' Mary Coughlin challenges the typical narrative of trauma recovery, emphasizing that not everyone rises from adversity and that survival itself is courageous and holy. She explores the often-overlooked aftermath of trauma, highlighting the quiet ache and unfinished healing that many experience. By advocating for grace instead of growth, she redefines post-traumatic growth to include small ...

We love to celebrate resilience.
We praise babies as “fighters,” parents as “strong,” and clinicians as “heroes.”
But beneath those shiny words often lies a deeper truth:
Resilience is not proof that no harm was done. It’s proof that someone survived.

In this episode of Womb to World, Mary Coughlin invites listeners to unpack what resilience really means—especially in the NICU. From the tiny bodies enduring separation and p...

Summary:
In this soul-stirring second episode of Womb to World, Mary Coughlin explores what it means to hold constitutional rights in the earliest moments of life. From the incubator to the delivery room, from presence to policy, this episode challenges us to reimagine justice, dignity, and voice—not as abstract ideals, but as birthrights. Through a trauma-informed, developmental care lens, Mary draws parallels between the NICU ...

What does a U.S.-funded foreign prison have to do with your work in the NICU?
In this solo Care OUTLOUD reflection, Mary walks with us—literally and metaphorically—through the story of the CECOT prison in El Salvador, exploring how systems of harm are mirrored in the ways we care (or fail to care) for families here at home.

This isn’t about politics.
This is about presence.
About remembering that trauma-informed developmental care is n...

What does it mean to really care out loud? In this specialextended episode, I sit down with the incomparable Mia Malcolm—NICU parent, fierce advocate, and truth-teller. Mia shares her family's 268-day NICU journey, the generational trauma that shaped her perspective, and what healthcareproviders must understand if we ever hope to show up with true compassion, equity, and humility.

We talk about systemic racism in medicine, trauma-in...

In this episode, Mary sits down with Jennifer Bernardo, a mother of twins born at 26 weeks gestation, who shares her challenging and inspirational journey through the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Jennifer discusses the unexpected birth, the four-and-a-half-month NICU stay, and the emotional and physical challenges faced by her family. She explains how this experience inspired her to write the book 'Week 26,' detaili...