foster care – Unicorn Shadows

The Healing Place Podcast: Brett Loftis – Science of Resilience & Building Trauma-Resilient Communities

What a joy to sit down with Brett Loftis, CEO of Crossnore School and Children’s Home, and Founder of The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, as we engaged in a compelling conversation about:

Crossnore School and Children’s Home
The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities
the impact of animals on healing
the science of resilience
the positive outcomes due to one caring adult
building trauma resilient organizations, communities, and cultures
supporting healers
adventure based counseling and other therapy modalities
mindfulness for children and helpers

Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on Pandora, iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, Deezer, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and more, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.

Bio:

Brett A. Loftis, JD
Chief Executive Officer, Crossnore School & Children’s Home
Founder and Faculty Member, Center for Trauma Resilient Communities
bloftis@crossnore.org

“Brett Loftis has a passion for protecting the most vulnerable children that is apparent from the moment he says hello. As the Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore School & Children’s Home, Brett leads an organization that is dedicated to growing healthy futures for children and families. His experience working in a residential program for at-risk children and as a Guardian ad litem in South Carolina, a youth minister in Texas, and as an attorney and the Executive Director of the Council for Children’s Rights in Charlotte, NC positioned him well to assume the executive role at Crossnore in 2013.

Under Brett’s leadership, Crossnore effectively completed their Second Century campaign surpassing their goal to build the organization’s endowment fund, built a new high school building at Williams Academy which opened in 2015, and constructed three new cottages on the Avery campus which opened in 2016. His executive leadership and strategic planning with the Board of Trustees led Crossnore to a successful merger with The Children’s Home in Winston-Salem, NC to become Crossnore School & Children’s Home in 2017. Services are expanding to underserved counties in western North Carolina through a satellite office opened in Hendersonville, NC in early 2018. He co-founded the Center for
Trauma Resilient Communities, a program of Crossnore School & Children’s Home, in 2018.

Brett received his undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Furman University. His passion for children eventually sent him to Wake Forest University School of Law to continue his career in child advocacy. He serves on numerous statewide committees and boards of directors, and he speaks statewide and nationally about children’s issues. Brett has completed the Train the Trainer program with David McCorkle from the Sanctuary Institute and helps to lead a team of 42 Sanctuary trainers on Crossnore’s campuses.

Brett and his family live on the Avery county campus of Crossnore School & Children’s Home and in his free time, he loves to coach youth soccer and basketball. Brett’s greatest love is his wife, Sally, and their three sons, Will, Elijah, and Lawson.”

Learn more about Brett and his mission at:https://www.crossnore.org/

Peace to you all!

Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=8265f971343b0f411b871aba1&id=1352bd63df

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Healing Place Podcast: Heather Askew – Jojo’s Sanctuary (Thailand)

What a heart-warming conversation I engaged in with Heather Askew, co-founder and co-director of Jojo’s Sanctuary, a beautiful space that works to re-unite children with families and provide opportunities for children in Northern Thailand. Heather has been a foster parent to three Thai teenagers herself and is currently parenting a teenage son. Please join us as we discuss her journey from the film industry in Los Angeles, California to changing lives in the villages of Thailand.

Welcome to The Healing Place Podcast! I am your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry, Spotify, or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/. You can also watch our insightful interview on YouTube.

Bio:

“Heather Askew, originally from Washington State, was a script supervisor in film and television for ten years before moving to Thailand. She moved to Chiang Mai in 2011 to work at Taw Saeng as program coordinator for the after school program. While there, she taught English, gave piano and guitar lessons and planned field trips for the children. After working with Taw Saeng for 3 years, she was invited to join the team at HUG Project as the case manager for child victims of human trafficking and sexual abuse. While at HUG Project, she also started an after school program with her Thai colleague, Win, for the Burmese children who lived in the neighborhood and were at risk of exploitation. The program, called Moulding Stars, continues today and Heather volunteers teaching English once a week to the pre-school class. Heather left HUG Project in 2016 to found Jojo’s Sanctuary with two Thai colleagues, Butsaba and Jay and acts as the co-director. Heather has also been a foster parent to three Thai teenagers and currently has a 17-year-old foster son.

Jojo’s Sanctuary seeks to educate, protect and empower vulnerable children, families and communities in Northern Thailand. They aim to prevent human trafficking by focusing on family strengthening and keeping children in families rather than orphanages. Jojo’s Sanctuary was named in honor of Jojo, an 8-year-old boy who died as the result of child abuse at the hands of an aunt. Their goal is to provide families with the tools to maintain a safe and loving home for every child, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Jojo’s Sanctuary provides educational scholarships, child protection and parenting workshops, assistance with citizenship for stateless children and a holistic family strengthening program for lower income families.”

Learn more about Heather and her mission at:

www.jojosthailand.org

www.facebook.com/JojosThailand

www.Instagram.com/JojosThailand

www.twitter.com/JojoSThailand

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Healing Place Podcast: Alison Morris – Full Potential Parenting

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with Alison Morris of Full Potential Parenting to discuss her work with parents where she offers support solutions for challenging behaviors in children, along with her philosophies on adverse childhood experiences, trauma, Emotional Freedom Technique, and more. Join us for a brief EFT session at the end of the interview!

Bio:

“Alison Morris is a certified, accredited “trauma mama!” As the single adoptive mom of a child with attachment and developmental trauma challenges, Alison started looking for answers, and one of the answers she found was Emotional Freedom Techniques, otherwise known as EFT or Tapping. Alison created Full Potential Parenting to help other parents of children with emotional and behavioral challenges understand what’s really going on with their children and what’s going on for them. Through the Full Potential Parenting Summit and the Full Potential Parenting Show, she interviews providers, doctors, therapists, and parents about non-pharmaceutical approaches to healing, and she offers individual coaching and group tapping classes so parents can make friends with their own emotions, and thereby provide a safe and compassionate space for their children to express their big feelings.” Learn more about Alison and her mission at: http://www.full-potential-parenting.com/

Peace to you all!
Teri

Hope for Healing Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/741bdf08d718/hope-for-healing-newsletter-may-2019

Book Launch Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unicornshadows/

The Healing Place Podcast Interview: Krissie Myers – Milestones & Foster Care

Welcome to the Healing Place Podcast! I’m your host, Teri Wellbrock. You can listen in on iTunes, Blubrry or directly on my website at www.teriwellbrock.com/podcasts/.

It made my heart happy to sit down with my friend Krissie Myers to discuss her program directors roles with Milestones, Inc. – an equestrian achievement program – and Kentucky Intensive Family Services foster care agency. You can find out more about Milestone’s wonderful programs and volunteer opportunities on their Facebook page or on their website.

Information on Kentucky Intensive Family Services can be found on their website:

“As a small, non-profit agency, KIFS takes pride in the ability to provide intense, therapeutic, in-home services to foster families and the children placed in their homes. We are very proud of our high success rate of helping children reach permanency, reducing the lingering effects of trauma due to abuse, neglect, and family crisis situations, and enhancing the over-all health, well-being, and life experience of our most vulnerable population.”