We missed #feelgoodfriday last week, but this store is so great we believe it will make up for it.
“K” is currently in a foster home but also receiving Home-Based Services from CHOICES. K lived through years of abuse and neglect, there were failed placements with relatives and visits to multiple foster homes. K needed trauma therapy and a nurturing foster home that could commit to her long-term. Five months ago she moved into a new CHOICES home that her home-based therapist and foster care worker thought would be a better placement match for her.
Since then, K has been nurtured by her foster mother and made tremendous progress in the home, school, and in her therapy sessions. K has brought her grades up and traveled to Washington D.C. on a school trip. Her IEP services have been significantly reduced. K has stopped engaging in risky behaviors and signed up to do ROTC at her High School next year.
Her foster mom has committed to being her long term foster home until she emancipates from care. Just last week the girls in the home got into an argument and K was feeling angry and upset. She used therapy techniques she has learned to journal her feelings and not have outbursts, and has encouraged her foster sisters to do the same because she says, “It helps.”
In therapy, K has told her trauma story and re-framed her experiences to move forward with the future. She has embraced mindfulness techniques and talks about experiencing her emotions so they don’t become so overwhelming.
K smiles and laughs and recently agreed that it is so easy to just fly off the handle and respond negatively, but that it takes strength to recognize your feelings, control you behavior and respond appropriately.
We are proud of her progress and future plans, and thank the team of people who have helped to lift her up and give her a stable home and appropriate therapy techniques.
