From Rollercoasters to Carousels: An Emotional Support Guide to Healing for NICU, Bereaved, and Special Needs Parents

What do you do when a traumatic event crash lands into your world, completely turning it, you, and your emotions upside down and inside out, and propelling you into a seemingly endless, frightening, and spiraling emotional experience? Scream? Cry? Withdraw? Wonder can you survive it? Will you? These are some of the questions I repeatedly asked myself as a NICU, Bereaved, and Special Needs mother when trauma came knocking at my parenting door unannounced and unwanted. The same questions other parents like me, and really anyone who has ever experienced trauma, have also asked.

The emotional journey that NICU, Bereaved, and Special Needs parents experience, is often described as a continuous rollercoaster ride, full of jarring, traumatic, raw emotional twists, and turns you have no control over. The aim and trajectory of this book is to give you back some control and get you off this ride and onto one which I propose is a better one: The Carousel.

You may wonder why I chose this ride as a symbol of our destination. I did so because although the carousel is a ride that still moves, it does so at a slower, calmer, and more controlled pace. It feels less scary, and if there is an unexpected dip, it is not as deep, jarring, or wild, so you are more able to manage it. My hope is that you do so in a more intentional, healthier, and dare I say more joyful way. I will show you how as we walk together, alongside other parents and experts, to move you away from trauma and towards healing. One emotion at a time.