A Grateful Mindset
Gratitude can reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and make us more resilient. It also fosters our relationships, even difficult ones. It floods your heart with warmth, changes the way you think, and allows you to let go of tensions. Focusing on gratitude will shift your perspective on life, and with practice, becomes a gratitude mindset.Read More
Loving Up Close
Foster and adoptive care is the epitome of living and loving up close. It’s feet to the ground, money-where-our-mouths-are, real investment type of work. There is nothing more real than welcoming a child, teen, or young adult into your home and walking a healing journey with them.Read More
The Power of Human Connection
In October, I was able to experience a joyous and long-awaited occasion - a three-day in-person retreat. It became evident that Zoom can never replace the connectedness that results from spending time with another person. As the days get shorter and people tend to go into hibernation mode, there is a risk that the loneliness people already feel will be exacerbated and raised to new levels. I ask you to join me in combatting loneliness by being a “reach out warrior.”Read More
Hygiene and Mental Health
Personal hygiene is a subject that is often not discussed on a daily basis. Typically, hygiene is overlooked as we often assume that everyone does things in similar ways or have similar levels of frequency. However, hygiene can often be the first sign of the start of mental health issues.Read More
Domestic Violence: Impact on Families, Children, and Communities
The month of October recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness. The one thing that is always true is domestic violence spans across family systems and impacts not only the survivor and their families but for communities, too. No matter the definition, domestic violence is much more than two words.Read More
Staying Healthy When You’re Stretched Thin
Let’s talk about self-care for foster parents, shall we? It’s a hot topic that is beautiful and necessary in theory and often feels impossible in practice. When each day is unpredictable, especially as many of our children deal with night terrors and other nighttime disturbances, how do we find the time and mental, physical, and emotional space to take care of ourselves?Read More
Engaging Families Despite Their Pasts
The child welfare system impacts a parent’s ability to reunify with their child in a timely manner. Because of the difficulties, families may dwell on the brokenness of a system. It is the child welfare workers’ responsibility to understand complex parental trauma to aid healing as well as positively impact foster care services for all individuals involved. Family engagement is critical to ensuring successful outcomes for children and families.Read More
Finding Belonging in Foster Care
The word ‘family’ is commonly interpreted as a group of individuals bound through marriage, blood, or adoption consisting of two parents and one or more children. The question at hand is what makes a household a family? Is it the fact that they are related, live in the same home, or is it because of the connections they have to each other? My definition of family is someone who you can go to for support, ask for guidance, depend on, and have unconditional love for you.Read More
Talking to Students About Suicide
Suicide can be a very difficult topic to discuss. Teachers often feel helpless to prevent student suicide, but they probably underestimate the impact of their words on their students. Honest and caring conversations about suicide can save lives. Not only can students in emotional pain benefit from these talks, but their peers can begin to recognize warning signs among their friends and gain the courage to act.Read More
Creating a Crisis Safety Plan With Your Child
Are you a planner? As a parent or caregiver, what if there was a way to plan for more than just the monumental moments in life? However, there may be unforeseen moments throughout our children’s lives that lead up to these milestones, and we want to ensure that your child reaches these milestones safely. It is important to help your child develop a crisis safety plan for moments when life may feel a bit too heavy to handle on their own.Read More
