Andrea Arens is a Special Education Teacher at Nexus-Indian Oaks Family Healings’ Safe Harbor School, teaching Functional Academics, or Independent Living Skills, to her students. Skills that would normally be taught by family, friends, or in a public school. However, since many Nexus-Indian Oaks youth come from different circumstances and have not had a normal childhood, they have not learned these crucial skills for maintaining a job, getting a place to live, and interacting with different people every day.  

Over the past few years, individuals in the caregiving field have been experiencing an alarming increase in feelings of high stress and burnout. This increase can have multiple factors, including lack of staffing, increase in clients, not enough downtime, and poor coping skills and work life balance.  What is burnout and how can employers help to prevent employee burnout?

You heard this would happen. Your little snuggler, your helper, your “mini-me” has become a teen. Attempting to engage with them now may elicit a series of grunts and groans, or seemingly thoughtless one-word answers. Try these techniques to help you reconnect with your teen and keep the lines of communication open.

While summer can be a busy, fun time of year, and a chance to get outside, we have all experienced the physical discomfort of a sweltering hot day. There are plenty of physical symptoms that can happen from prolonged exposure to extreme heat and sunlight, extreme heat can negatively impact your mental health as well. 

Taking a moment to focus on your breath can help reduce anxiety and improve your mindset. One great way to practice mindful breathing and slowing down your breath is through blowing bubbles. Try this exercise!

Everyone wants to be treated with kindness. And yet as adults, many people don’t experience kindness in their workplace. Kindness often comes with barriers that make it inconvenient. An easy way to identify your kindness skills is to see how your actions align with the three levels of kindness.

Trauma is pervasive and has a broad and diverse impact, and deeply affects how the youth we serve approach the services we provide. If done incorrectly, social services can re-traumatize or further harm those they are trying to help, which is why being trauma-informed is so crucial in every part of social services. 

There are many ways children tell us how they feel and it is not always through words. As we enter another school year, parents, caregivers, teachers, and others need to be aware of the different ways children communicate. One way to “hear” what a child is nonverbally communicating is by analyzing the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

For parents of school-aged children, the phrase “I’m bored” can crop up in the middle of summer. Trying to fill your child’s time may add stress or anxiety to your already busy schedule. Check out these four tips on how to help bridge your child's boredom.

Araya's journey was a labyrinth of tumultuous emotions before she entered the embracing arms of Nexus-Gerard Family Healing. At the pivotal age of 15, she felt adrift in a sea of despair, her life losing its meaning. Having to move from foster home to foster home as well as several hospitalizations due to self-harm and suicide attempts, added to her ordeal.