Additional Resources
Nexus to Open New PRTF, Launches Youth Care Transition Program
Dr. Michelle Murray, CEO of Nexus Family Healing, announced that the agency will open its first psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) later this year in East Bethel, located approximately 35 miles north of Minneapolis. It will be the fifth PRTF in Minnesota.
How to Support Your Loved One in Their Gender Expression
It’s important to understand that someone’s gender identity and sexual identity are two different concepts. Gender identity is the personal sense of one’s own gender, while sexual identity is a person’s conception of their sexuality and who they are attracted to. You may feel uncomfortable about the way your loved one is choosing to express their gender, or maybe you don’t understand it. You may worry about the struggles they will face or worry about them being bullied or harassed by others. Here’s some tips on how you can support your loved one.
A Foster Mom’s Gratitude List
When I became a foster parent, I had some grandiose mission statements about what I would do, how I would help, and the way in which I would serve vulnerable youth… but I look back now, seven years later, and see I had it all wrong. Well-intentioned, but wrong.
Walking Alongside Birth Families
Families do not set out to put their child in foster care but simply are in a situation that makes it untenable to maintain parenting safely and confidently. People often look at a foster youth and think “those poor kids.” That thought, although maybe well-intentioned, breeds contempt for loved ones. When we reframe the way we look at why a child has entered care, we can be better equipped to care for the youth, and in turn, learn to walk alongside birth families.
Dear Foster Parents, Give Them a Chance
It was Christmas Eve, 2016. The snow was coming down outside the Social Services office where my foster kiddo and I sat. A big storm was on its way, and I was nervously sitting in a dim meeting room, waiting for this sweet angel’s birth mother to join us for the first time. My foster youth was snuggled in a warm blanket with me, snoozing away. Mom was already 25 minutes late. The air hung nervously as my mind raced with negative thoughts and emotions, asking myself how was I going to get home in this snow?
Child Abuse Books Reading List
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Here at Nexus Family Healing, our employees, therapists, and foster parents continuously work with youth who have experienced different types of trauma, which often include abuse or neglect. We’ve compiled a list of books that speak about child abuse and trauma that may be fitting for children of different ages.
Child Abuse and Trauma Reading List
A list of books to help caregivers/parents and their child learn more about child abuse, trauma, and trauma-informed practices together.
An Honest Approach to Foster Care
Roxanne and Stanley never considered being foster parents, but were inspired when Roxanne's brother and wife needed some extra support. When Nexus-Woodbourne’s Foster Treatment Program reached out to Roxanne and Stanley to be full-time foster parents in 2016, they agreed.
