Our first instinct as adults is to protect children from information that contains violence, depicts the suffering of others or is deemed as “too difficult to understand.” While this is true when the information serves no purpose, when the information is fake (like TV shows and movies) or when it doesn’t have applicable meaning, you do not want to shield children from difficult conversations when they are already being exposed to real-life situations. Under these circumstances, children need to discuss life events so they can appropriately make sense out of what is happening.

This has been a very difficult week in Minneapolis and across our communities. We are deeply saddened and upset by the death of George Floyd. At Nexus Family Healing, we place a high value on diversity and compassion. We work hard to see and respect every individual we serve and recognize the trauma they have endured. Empathy and understanding are at the heart of who we are and the work we do every day. That is why the events of this week, at a time when so many are already suffering, are so painful to observe.

There are many different ways we have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. One area of life that has drastically changed is how we celebrate or recognize meaningful life events. Special events like graduation, religious ceremonies, weddings, prom, anniversaries, baby showers, funerals, etc. are important rituals that mark the end of a developmental milestone while ushering in a different, future life stage. It is for this reason that it is quite normal for people to feel a great sense of loss and grief about having traditional ways of practicing significant rituals so disrupted, and in most cases, entirely cancelled.

Paul and Cara are Nexus-PATH foster parents. They provided informal care to two children prior to becoming foster care licensed in 2013. 

Have you ever wondered if your child is struggling with mental health? How does a parent know the difference between a child’s regular personality and a mental health issue that should be addressed? It is challenging to know the difference between a personality trait and a mental health issue because a child is still growing and developing. How personality traits and mental health symptoms manifest will both vary from year to year because a child is not done changing.

There are many myths about becoming foster parents that people believe to be true. Some of these myths may even stop an amazing potential foster family from inquiring because they do not believe they would qualify. We are here today to debunk what tend to be the top five myths of foster care and set the record straight!

We all share the same fundamental needs to wellbeing regardless of who we are. These five universal needs are equally important and interconnected and if one need is lacking or having a negative impact on another, our wellbeing is out of whack.

Faced with a universal human challenge, some familiar lines, boundaries and routines came tumbling down. We had to face this one together, acknowledge the distressing state of often not knowing and find our way through territory never crossed before. So turns out being vulnerable is an ok place to help others from.  That needing each other helped us move towards the integration we had been wanting for a long time but had a hard time achieving.  That leaders turning to those they lead for guidance as the path is charted may be the most powerful thing we can do

We seem to be in this phase of in-between time – the lingering phase that follows the immediate emergency of COVID-19, but precedes a return to normalcy, however “normal” is defined. It is starting to sink in that the changes we are currently living under, changes that are having a large impact on our social, economic, family, and professional lives, may extend many months into the future.