Welcome to
NPN has taken the concepts of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and interwoven them into every level of our organization and every educational offering we provide to our members. This is not just a tick box to look good on paper, this is deeply embedded in our values, who we are as individual leaders and who we are collectively as an organization.
Upcoming Events
April 25th at Noon EST
Our distinguished panel of experts, alongside adult former preemies themselves, will provide valuable insights into the unique challenges and triumphs faced by individuals who began their lives in the NICU.
May 7th at Noon EST
A transformative discussion focusing on “Together We Thrive: Cultivating Unity in NICU Motherhood and Mental Health.” We will discuss the barriers often experienced by mothers in accessing mental health services, explore strategies for advocating for mental health, and empowering NICU mothers.
May 15th at Noon EST
A vital discussion on supporting feeding tube NICU infants in overcoming eating challenges after the NICU. Together we will gain insights, share experiences, and learn about a parent-created course to empower both parents and infants on the journey to successful feeding and growth.
May 23rd at Noon EST
What’s your plan? Join NPN for a Succession Planning Q&A with Kelli Kelley, CEO of Hand to Hold and and Nancy Micca, former Executive Director of the Family Support Network of Central Carolina. Explore strategies to ensure the continuity and growth of your organization.
NICUnity Initiative
We won’t just talk about these experiences, because talk without action is just noise.
Ensure that every discussion connects back to our intention to elevate underrepresented groups and people in some way.
Provide meaningful takeaways with each offering that are housed in our live resource library to include tools, tips, suggestions and/or advice that can be utilized to make a real impact on a broad scale.
Foster an inclusive, diverse, and equitable organizational culture of belonging for all members.
Generate meaningful community experiences for our audience.
Provide high quality professional development opportunities that enhance the knowledge, expertise, and impact of all NPN members.
The NICUnity Initiative will encompass many of our already successful and sustaining offerings, but housed under a cohesive brand and aligned goals.
Virtual Discussions
Leadership Lounges
Special Health Topics
In-person workshop at the annual NPN Leadership Summit facilitated by NPN’s I & D Committee
Dedicated resource library to include digital downloads of recordings along with links to tools, articles, & more from each session
Our perceptions are shaped by what we see or have lived. We believe Inclusion is not “I heard a story of a marginalized person or group and now I’m going to go do something on their behalf.” Inclusion means elevating those around you who have been historically silenced, overlooked and underestimated. We view our position of influence and privilege with great reverence and believe our job is to shine the light on others and pass THEM the mic, as author, Ruchika Tulshyan often says. NICU families are an entire symphony of voices and experiences, each with their own unique and critical vantage point.
It is in this spirit we are launching NICUnity, an initiative of NICU Parent Network that will engage NICU Parent Leaders, healthcare partners, and other maternal infant health stakeholders. We will enjoy lively, frank, honest and blame-free discussions about the varying lived experiences of marginalized, underrepresented, and underestimated people and groups as it relates to their NICU experience and life after the NICU. This will be an enduring offering that will build on the range of topics already discussed in our successful Let’s Talk About Race series including race and racism, unconscious bias and microaggressions, health disparities and inequities experienced by people of color in the NICU. With NICUnity, we will broaden the lens to include discussions with families who identify in many ways such as LGBTQ+ families, parents with disabilities, children with special healthcare needs, near-term and full-term birth experiences, loss, caregivers, inequities navigating different systems and many others. Practitioners, policy makers, and changemakers will also join these discussions to ensure topics are viewed through many sides of the prism. Listeners will learn from raw, authentic voices about the trauma and mental health impact of a NICU stay, how that leads to transformation within, and what NICU community leaders can do to support and develop this evolution.
We will delve into what Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging truly mean as it relates to individuals, organizations, and communities, how the paths to leadership in the NICU are impacted by false perceptions, and how we can overcome existing barriers and structural systems of oppression and discrimination.
About the Hosts & Facilitators
Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez
NPN BOARD PRESIDENT, FOUNDER GKF COACHING & CONSULTING
Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez is an ICF Credentialed and Certified Trauma Informed Coach, leadership, diversity, empowerment and wellbeing specialist who is passionate about helping individuals, teams and organizations find their joy by discovering their passion, purpose and presence. She has 20+ years of international clinical and strategic management experience and holds global board appointments in the health sector.
Gigi’s specialty areas include: Leadership and Organizational Wellness, Maternal-Infant Health Leadership Development, Well-being, Racial Inclusion and Diversity, Empowerment and Trauma Informed Coaching. The services she provides include but are not limited to Coaching, Consulting, Facilitation, and Design and Delivery of bespoke workshops, trainings and seminars.
As the mother to an amazing child born extremely pre-term, Gigi intuitively ‘gets’ the weighty and sometimes conflicting dynamics experienced within the maternal-infant health communities. This lived experience coupled with her professional background, allows Gigi to bring genuine compassion, skill and a deep understanding of the daily challenges NICU families and professionals face and the impact these challenges can have on their well-being.
All of the above combined with proven and evidence-based coaching techniques, a unique vantage point, compassionate heart, fierce belief in all she works with and a dose of laughter, equips Gigi in facilitating people to become more authentic, confident, and empowered advocates for and better versions of themselves.
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Keira Sorrells
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
As Founder and Executive Director of the NICU Parent Network for the last decade, Keira Sorrells has been leading the movement to elevate the NICU Parent Leader as a respected professional in maternal infant health. After giving birth to triplets at just 25 weeks 5 days gestation and losing one of her daughters at 14 months old, Keira was propelled into maternal infant health out of an unshakeable desire to ensure no parent experiences the trauma of preterm birth or loss alone. Together, with a dedicated team of NICU Parent Leaders, Keira has grown the NICU Parent Network to be a sought-after resource and collaborative partner for providers, researchers, industry and other stakeholders in this niche of healthcare.
Parents are the key stakeholders and the key informants in maternal infant health. Nowhere else in healthcare is this more important than in matters related to neonates, a patient population that cannot speak for itself. Keira is passionate about strengthening the NICU Parent Leader community so that every aspect of maternal infant health will be improved through informing product development, research protocols, standards of care, and educating families, communities and providers resulting in families who thrive. Ms. Sorrells’ commitment to authentic leadership and collaboration has successfully brought over 40 NICU support organization leaders together as they have collectively established a unified representation for NICU parents everywhere.