While healthcare systems have made significant advances in recent years, they continue to trail behind in attending to psychological and emotional well-being. This gap affects not only patients living with a health condition but also the professionals tasked with their care. Despite clear evidence that chronic illness increases vulnerability to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, healthcare delivery remains largely governed by a narrow medical gaze—one that prioritises survival and symptom management while sidelining human experience. The consequences are increasingly visible. Reports of burnout, moral injury, and compassion fatigue among healthcare staff now sit alongside growing concerns about disempowering and dehumanising patient care. Routine practices, such as prolonged waiting, restrictive hospital gowns, and limited access to personal medical information, persist despite their well-documented links to helplessness and trauma-related distress. Hospital environments themselves often remain noisy, impersonal, and poorly aligned with recovery, psychological safety, and age-appropriate or neuro-affirmative care. For children, the stakes are even higher. Medical procedures can disrupt essential developmental needs for safety, connection, and play. Practices such as clinical restraint may be experienced as …