Supporting NICU families

Having your baby on a neonatal unit can have a profound psychological impact on parents.

Parents often feel a rollercoaster of emotions during their baby’s admission, including fear, sadness and helplessness. These feelings can continue once your baby is back home, where feelings of isolation and exhaustion may contribute to worries about your baby's health and future.

Psychological support can help you develop coping tools to manage these intense feelings, offering a space to process your experience, foster resilience, and build a sense of control during an incredibly challenging time.

We can offer psychological support for individuals, couples, and families affected by a range of issues, including:

  • Managing the rollercoaster of emotions (such as fear, uncertainty and helplessness) during your baby’s admission

  • Managing worries about your baby’s medical condition once they’re back home

  • Helping you process your NICU experience (including trauma related to your pregnancy and birth)

  • Grieving the pregnancy and healthy baby that you had imagined taking home

  • Feeling overwhelmed by responsibilities outside of the NICU (e.g. going to work, finances, looking after siblings)

  • Tokophobia (fear of birth)

  • Supporting siblings and other family members to understand the NICU experience

  • Pregnancy after NICU

  • Perinatal loss