Our Story and Leadership
A note from our Executive Director
Hand to Hold was born from one mother’s lived experience and sustained by the courage to believe that NICU families deserve more than survival. They deserve emotional support, community, and hope. What began as a sheer act of determination has grown into a national movement to elevate mental health as an essential part of neonatal care.
As we look toward the future, Hand to Hold is entering a new chapter.
Today, more babies are surviving the NICU than ever before. Yet families are leaving these units carrying the invisible wounds of trauma, anxiety, depression, and grief, that too often go unaddressed. The science is clear: mental health support improves outcomes for parents and babies alike. The challenge before us is scale. Access. Sustainability. And systems change.
Together, we are building a future where NICU mental health support is not an added benefit, but a fundamental part of care.
Our vision for the years ahead is bold: to ensure that every NICU family, regardless of location or circumstance, can access early-intervention mental health support as a standard of care.
Over the next several years, Hand to Hold is focused on three core commitments:
Expanding access and reach.
We are scaling our peer support, professional counseling, and hospital partnerships to serve more families nationwide, especially in communities where mental health resources are limited or nonexistent.
Strengthening quality, innovation, and impact.
We are deepening our clinical partnerships, investing in technology, and building stronger evaluation models so that our programs are not only compassionate, but measurable, evidence-informed, and continuously improving.
Leading systems-level change.
Hand to Hold is working alongside hospitals, policymakers, researchers, corporate partners, and advocacy groups to advocate for NICU mental health to be embedded into healthcare infrastructure—so families are supported not by chance, but by design.
While our strategies evolve, our heart remains unchanged.
We are here for the mother sitting alone beside an isolette at midnight.
For the father balancing hope and fear.
For the families navigating life after the NICU.
And for those grieving unimaginable loss.
As a NICU parent myself, and as Executive Director, I carry both the responsibility and the privilege of stewarding this mission forward. My commitment is to lead Hand to Hold with clarity, courage, and compassion. To honor the foundation that was built by our founder, while boldly shaping what is possible.
Together, we are building a future where NICU mental health support is not an added benefit, but a fundamental part of care. Where no family is unseen. And where hope is not just a word, but a promise.
With hope and determination,
Katrina Moline
Executive Director, Hand to Hold
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Founder’s Note
by Kelli Kelley
There are defining moments in each of our lives—moments of joy, moments of sorrow, and moments that reshape us in ways we could never anticipate. My defining moment came on a hot summer day in 2000 when I gave birth to my son, Jackson, at just 24 weeks gestation. He weighed one pound, eight ounces.
Those early months in the NICU, followed by years of therapies, doctor visits, and uncertainty, forever changed the trajectory of my life. Two and a half years later, our daughter Lauren arrived six weeks early and faced complications of her own. Though her NICU stay was brief, the fear, grief, and loneliness felt achingly familiar.
Despite being surrounded by friends and family, I longed for someone who truly understood—a hand to hold through the fear, trauma, and unknowns of life in and after the NICU. That longing planted the seed that eventually grew into Hand to Hold.
