This week's guests, perinatal mental health therapists Emily Souder and Mahaley Patel, share the story behind their book Your NICU Story: Reflecting on Your Family's Experience—a guided journal created to help families process the emotional impact of a NICU stay. Mahaley also opens up about her daughter, Sachi, who died after a NICU stay, and how storytelling and narrative healing became a lifeline in her grief.

She and Emily talk with Katie about why so many NICU parents carry trauma long after discharge and how writing your story can help families reconnect with what they experienced. They also discuss the emotional weight of making medical decisions during a NICU stay, the importance of compassionate healthcare providers, and why healing sometimes begins months or even years later.

If you've ever struggled to process a NICU experience—or wondered how to revisit it in a way that feels safe and meaningful—this conversation offers powerful insight and hope. Emily and Mahaley's biggest message? Your story deserves space, compassion, and time—and reflecting on it can be an important step toward healing.

We extend our sincere gratitude to our sponsor for this episode, Gebauer PainEase®. We are pleased to provide more information about this product, and we invite you to learn more by visiting their website.

Resources & Ways to Connect:

Book: Your NICU Story: Reflecting on Your Family's Experience
Available wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local bookstores.

Emily Souder, LMFT, PMH-C

Website

Instagram

Mahaley Patel, LMFT, PMH-C

Instagram

Connect & Support from Child Life On Call:

• Subscribe: Never miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
  
  

• Visit insidethechildrenshospital.com to search stories and episodes easily
  
  

• Follow us on Instagram for updates and opportunities to connect with other parents
  
  

• Download SupportSpot: receive Child Life tools at your fingertips.
  
  

• Leave a Review: It helps other families find us and access our resources!

Medical information provided is not a substitute for professional advice—please consult your care team.

Keywords: NICU trauma, healing after NICU, NICU parent mental health, NICU journaling prompts, birth trauma support, NICU loss support, perinatal mental health therapist, processing NICU experience, life after NICU discharge, NICU storytelling, guided journal for NICU parents, neonatal intensive care support, grief after NICU, NICU parent resources

What happens when your child shares something that shifts the future you thought you understood?

In this episode of Inside the Children's Hospital, Katie sits down with Kelly Kemp — certified child life specialist of more than 30 years and mom of three — to talk about navigating trust, grief, advocacy, and love after her child was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and came out as transgender.

Kelly shares:

• The phone call that changed everything

• Navigating substance use and mental health concerns

• Grieving privately while choosing love publicly

• Rebuilding trust with her child

• Supporting siblings during a major transition

• Setting boundaries with extended family

• Finding affirming medical and mental health care

• Holding faith and parenting together during uncertainty

This conversation is not about politics. It is about parenting inside a medical diagnosis. It is about trust. It is about grief that doesn't mean rejection. And it is about the steady, protective love that children need — especially when the world feels loud.

Whether your child is navigating a medical diagnosis, identity development, or a season you didn't anticipate, this episode will remind you:

Grief and love can coexist.

Trust is foundational.

And your child still needs you.

Resources & Crisis Support:

• The Trevor Project: Providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people.

• • Call: 1-866-488-7386

  • Text: START to 678-678

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: For mental health crises in the US.

• Free Mom Hugs

• WPath (World Professional Association for Transgender Health)

• The Trans Family Alliance

• Please note: Some organizations have private social media groups. For more information on those, you are welcome to private message Kelly Kemp.

Connect & Support from Child Life On Call:

• Subscribe: Never miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

• Visit insidethechildrenshospital.com to search stories and episodes easily

• Follow us on Instagram for updates and opportunities to connect with other parents

• Download SupportSpot: receive Child Life tools at your fingertips.

• Leave a Review: It helps other families find us and access our resources!

Medical information provided is not a substitute for professional advice—please consult your care team.

This week's guest, Abby Horton, opens up about her journey as a Child Life Specialist working across ICU, burn, surgical, rehab, and inpatient settings—and how those experiences shaped the way she supports families navigating physical differences. From sudden trauma and accidents to limb differences, burn injuries, surgical scars, and hair loss from chemotherapy, Abby shares how parents can gently empower their children to own their story with confidence.

She and Katie discuss simple, age-appropriate scripts that help children respond to questions about their bodies. Abby explains why modeling these conversations early matters, how to give kids space to answer for themselves, and why curiosity from peers is often just that—curiosity, not cruelty.

If you've ever wondered how to help your child respond to stares, questions, or comments about a physical difference, this conversation offers practical tools and deep reassurance. Abby's biggest message? You're probably doing better than you think—and it's not about having perfect words, but about helping your child feel loved and supported.

Today's Episode is sponsored by Moog Medical. Moog Medical is a trusted leader in infusion and enteral feeding technology, designing reliable, easy-to-use pumps that support safe, precise care for patients with complex medical needs—at home and in healthcare settings.

Resources & Ways to Connect:

Website: Little Lighthouses Child Life Services
Instagram: @littlelighthouseschildlife

Abby offers virtual support for families navigating physical differences, medical transitions, and post-hospital adjustment.

Connect & Support from Child Life On Call:

• Subscribe: Never miss an episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
  
  

• Visit insidethechildrenshospital.com to search stories and episodes easily
  
  

• Follow us on Instagram for updates and opportunities to connect with other parents
  
  

• Download SupportSpot: receive Child Life tools at your fingertips.
  
  

• Leave a Review: It helps other families find us and access our resources!

Medical information provided is not a substitute for professional advice—please consult your care team.

Keywords: physical differences in children, limb difference support, burn survivor child, surgical scars in kids, hair loss from chemotherapy, child life specialist, five cent story, five dollar story, resilience in children, bullying vs curiosity, parenting medically complex child, body confidence in kids, hospital to home transition, psychosocial support for families, sibling advocacy, Little Lighthouses Child Life