Our Impact
Quarter 3 2026
Our Impact
Quarter 3 2026
Connecting more families to the right support, right when they need it.
Hand to Hold continues to expand access to specialized mental health and peer support – in the hospital, online, and beyond. This quarter, we grew our counseling capacity, expanded support in Spanish, connected more parents through peer mentoring, and made support easier to access beyond the hospital through our newly relaunched app.
At a Glance
17,354
support sessions provided in June and July
70+
Parents matched with peer mentors
587
parent handbooks distributed
50%
increase in bilingual capacity
1
new bereavement resource
Growing our teams where families need us.
More capacity = more families served.
Expanded counseling access
Hand to Hold welcomed a new bilingual counselor, bringing our counseling team to full staffing and helping reduce the wait for families seeking specialized mental health support.
To date, 88% of clients have shown a decrease in depression symptoms after just 8 sessions with our counselors.
Continuing support in our partner hospitals
New Family Support Specialists joined our Austin and Houston teams, expanding bilingual support and helping us better serve the diverse families in our partner hospitals.
Partner hospitals saw record attendance at our Father’s Day celebrations honoring NICU dads.
Sometimes your village is virtual.
Finding the right support can make all the difference.
Virtual Support Groups
In our virtual support groups, 37 parents returned for more than one session, and those returning parents accounted for 80% of all virtual support delivered — evidence that families who find the program stay with it. 30 parents have now attended across multiple months, and 24 families have attended three or more times.
For one NICU mom living in a rural community away from family and friends, our virtual support group has become her “virtual village” – a place to process her NICU experience, navigate anxiety and connect with parents who understand.
Another couple in our Black NICU Families Support Group found practical strategies and encouragement from other parents as they navigated advocating for their baby and setting boundaries with family.
“Coming to group each week, I didn’t know how much I would bond with these parents and how important it would become to me.”
Peer Mentor Program
6 requests per day
Our Peer Mentor Program receives an average of six requests a day, and our team works to find the right mentor for each family’s unique experience.
“El mentoreo me ha ayudado a poder procesar el camino de UCIN con mi bebé, quien todavía sigue internada. Gracias por todo el apoyo.”
[English translation] “The mentoring has helped me process my NICU journey with my baby, who is still hospitalized. Thank you for all the support.”
Hand to Hold App
In June, we relaunched our app, making it easier for NICU families to find trusted resources, request a peer mentor and stay connected to support wherever they are.
New resource unveiled:
Support for families carrying a different kind of NICU journey.
We unveiled new Love & Loss Keepsake Gift Boxes for bereaved NICU families. Boxes include meaningful items including NICU Love & Loss: A Parent’s Guide, an I Carry Your Heart necklace, infant loss awareness ribbons and a keepsake box for treasured memories.
Shaping the conversation around NICU family mental health.
Hand to Hold was invited to collaborate with the Newborn Brain Society on a new globally attended international education series launching in 2027. The six-part series will bring together leaders in neonatal neurology and build on the foundational text Neonatal Brain Injury.
Our role: ensuring the family experience is part of the conversation.
HELP US REACH MORE FAMILIES.
Every family deserves access to specialized mental health support and meaningful peer connection.
