About Our Founder
The Breath Between was founded by Sarah Carvajal, MSW, a non-profit executive with over a decade of leadership experience in health supportive programs, and - most importantly - the mother of an amazing child that is blood transfusion dependent.
Sarah’s entry into this work began with lived experience at the sharpest edge of pediatric medicine. When her daughter was born, she required an emergency exchange transfusion and was airlifted to a Level IV NICU before she could ever be held. The trauma of the separation, compounded by the unrelenting demands of raising a child with intensive medical needs, left Sarah navigating profound stress, frequent dissociation, and relentless searches for answers that medicine alone could not provide.
After more than a year of survival mode caregiving, Sarah reached a turning point and began the difficult work of addressing her own chronic trauma through therapy. This process illuminated a truth too often unspoken in pediatric care: the emotional health of parents is not peripheral but central to a child’s healing environment. Sitting bi-weekly in hematology and oncology infusion clinics, Sarah began to pay attention to the faces of the parents around her. She began to recognize her own experience mirrored in their faces - profound fear, exhaustion and quiet resilience.
From that recognition, The Breath Between was born. Drawing on her dual vantage point as both a non-profit executive and a parent of a chronically hospital-involved child, Sarah saw clearly the missing infrastructure in pediatric healthcare: a systemic approach to supporting parental wellbeing. She observed firsthand how her own emotional stability directly shaped her daughter’s ability to experience treatment and accept the norms of her life. She also recognized how emotionally regulated, supported parents were better positioned to communicate effectively with clinical teams; fostering trust, partnership and a more collaborative hospital environment.
It is from this convergence of personal experience and professional leadership that The Breath Between emerged: a commitment to embedding parental mental health into the fabric of pediatric care as a standard of excellence rather than an optional resource.
about us
The Breath Between exists to address a critical yet historically overlooked dimension of pediatric healthcare: the psychological and emotional support of parents with children that are hospitalized and chronically hospital involved. Decades of research confirm that caregiver wellbeing is inextricably linked to child health outcomes. Despite the existing evidence, there remains a significant gap in the support infrastructure for the neurological and emotional well-being of parents with hospitalized children.
Our mission is to provide parents with accessible, evidence-based interventions that promote emotional regulation and wellbeing, reduce toxic stress and support their capacity to engage effectively in their child’s care. We begin with calming kits - carefully curated packages that include meal vouchers, tactile fidgets, aromatherapy, notebooks (to foster both reflection and active participation in care) and meditations created specifically for parents of hospital involved children. These tools are not “extras,” they are structural supports, reinforcing that parental mental health is essential to both the child’s wellbeing and the efficiency of the hospital system itself.
By strengthening parental wellbeing, The Breath Between also enhances the broader healthcare ecosystem. Deeply supported parents are more capable of engaging constructively with clinicians, comprehending complex medical information and participating in shared decision making. This reduces adversarial interactions, builds trust and fosters a more collaborative environment for hospital teams.
Our Vision
While calming kits are our point of entry, The Breath Between is designed as a scalable initiative that redefines caregiver support as a national standard of pediatric healthcare.
Our long-term vision includes:
Establishing a dedicated network of mental health professionals trained to serve parents of hospitalized and chronically hospital involved children.
Creating a digital library of guided meditations and psychoeducational tools (specifically for this population of parents) integrated into hospital systems.
Embedding hospital-based caregiver support programs as standard practice in inpatient units.
Partnering with academic institutions to produce rigorous outcome research, measuring not only child recovery and trajectories and well-being but also the quality of parent-clinician communication and care efficiency after parents have involvement with The Breath Between.
Developing reflective journals and other practical tools that reinforce parental wellbeing, reflection and clinical engagement.
Designing “Zen Rooms” within hospitals as dedicated spaces for parent to rest, recalibrate and return to their child’s bedside grounded and present.