Love as a Systemic Force: Healing Society Through the NICU #5
“We are not mechanics of brokenness; we are midwives of becoming.” - Mary Coughlin
Love as a Systemic Force: Healing Society Through the NICU #5
Week 5 — From Fixing to Healing
Healthcare has long been built on a model of fixing: identify the pathology, treat it quickly, reduce the risk, move on to the next crisis.
But healing — true healing — asks something very different of us. Healing asks us to slow down..., to listen..., to attune..., to honor what is emerging as much as what is resolving. Healing is not transactional. Healing is relational.
Nowhere is this more visible than in the NICU.
A baby does not “heal” because we fix their lungs or stabilize their vitals. A baby heals through regulated touch, protected sleep, attuned presence, and the relational field that surrounds them. A parent heals when their fear is met with compassion rather than judgment. A clinician heals when they are held in a culture that values humanity as much as efficiency.
Trauma-Informed Developmental Care teaches us that development itself is an act of healing — an ongoing interaction between biology and relationship.
Caritas Coaching reminds us that love is not soft; it is the deep, steady force that allows people to reorganize, restore, and rise.
And your advocacy reminds us that systems change not when problems are patched — but when people feel safe, seen, and supported enough to become who they were meant to be.
Fixing asks, “What’s wrong?” Healing asks, “What’s possible?”
Fixing reduces, categorizes, and rushes. Healing expands, dignifies, and invites becoming.
To move from fixing to healing is to recognize that we are not just treating conditions — we are shaping nervous systems, identities, families, and futures.
This is what it means to heal society through the NICU: to build systems that do not simply correct what breaks, but cultivate what is waiting to bloom🌷.
Reflection Prompt
Where in your work do you feel the pull to fix instead of heal?
What might shift if you asked yourself,
“What is trying to emerge here?”
Science | Soul | Skill
Science: Relational safety, co-regulation, and developmental attunement promote neuroplasticity, resilience, and long-term wellbeing — outcomes that no technical fix can achieve alone.
Soul: Healing is the art of creating conditions where wholeness can return.
Skill: Before responding to a challenge, pause and ask: “What supports healing here — not just resolution?”
Until every system remembers how to love,
Mary
