EP 03: Discovering Purpose and Nurturing Hope: Sue Ludwig on Championing Neonatal Care

“I was blown away by how much symmetry and how many implementable lessons there were, from what I was doing every day when I was working with babies, that I could weave that into my own life and share with others.” - Sue  Ludwig

 

Sue Ludwig is a speaker, consultant, and author of the award-winning book “Tiny Humans, Big Lessons”.  She is a licensed occupational therapist, certified neonatal therapist, and serves as the media expert in neonatal therapy for the American Occupational Therapy Association.  

 

She is also the president and founder of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT).  NANT was founded as a way for occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists to find community and connection and share information and resources about the very specific work they do for premature babies in the NICU. Aligning three such specific fields of study into a common mission can be challenging, as is raising funds for ongoing research, and bringing NANT’s holistic approach to the NICU’s high-tech environment, as Sue explains. 

 

Like premature babies, we all can feel fragile and small at times. Sue shares lessons from her book which she gleaned from her work that we can all apply to our ongoing emotional development, such as being mindful of every ounce of energy we expend. She also offers advice to fellow and aspiring changemakers about the importance of a shared purposeful mission, mentorship (official and unofficial) and self care. Change won’t happen overnight, and she shares how to get specific about your mission and how to develop emotional resilience. 

 

Intention itself is not enough, and you must have compassion for yourself when things inevitably go wrong. Hear Sue discuss her big future vision for NANT and what listeners can do to advocate for better neonatal care and therapies in their communities. 

 

Quotes

• “I was blown away by how much symmetry there was, and how many really implementable lessons there were from what I was doing… it was so transformational in my own life, I had to share it with other people.” (13:01| Sue)
• “‘You can have the greatest mission statement in the world, but it's pointless unless you have people who are on a mission.’ …it will not get off the ground without people with you who are on that same mission.” (26:13 | Sue) 
• “One really important thing… is just really believing that taking care of ourselves isn't selfish.” (27:45 | Sue)
• “A lot of times, they're real reactive situations, and I try to just say, ‘Wait, pause…whatever that reaction might be. I try to always just pause first because there's a lot of natural intelligence in the pause.” (29:39 | Sue)
• “Our intentions aren't guaranteed, it's just how we keep showing up for them, that matters.” (33:26 | Sue) 

 

 

Links

Connect with Sue Ludwig:

NANT: https://neonataltherapists.com/

Website: https://sueludwig.com/book/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/thesueludwig

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sueludwig

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sue.ludwig/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueludwig/

Bio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pvqPXPNDLQ21H4QSmNn1N7xJTOoIawKo/view

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