Crossroads Family Services

Making Wellness Possible

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Why Practise Gratitude?

With Christmas on the horizon and New Years right around the corner, many people are planning on putting 2021 behind them and starting fresh on the 1st.  If you’re feeling the same way, I don’t blame you! 2021 was a challenging year with many ups and downs. I would like to try to turn your attention to those ‘ups’ for a moment. Today, I want to talk about gratitude.

Gratitude is the practise of acknowledging the things, people, and actions you are thankful for. It can be done outwardly or just in your head, and either way is associated with a great deal of wellness benefits!

Researchers at Berkley university found the following benefits of gratitude after asking participants in a study to simply write down the things they were grateful for each day:

  • People who regularly reflect on gratitude use a lower percentage of negative emotion words when they speak, suggesting that gratitude may shift your attention away from negative feelings.
  • Feelings of gratitude alter brain activity! People who are more grateful show more activity in areas associated with learning and decision making.
  • Expressing gratitude regularly trains your brain to be more grateful, so over time we learn to express more gratitude naturally, with less effort.

Gratitude has also been associated with these benefits:

  • Increased positive moods and emotions.
  • Increased resiliency and empathy.
  • Improved relationships.
  • Improved sleep.
  • Increased self-esteem.

 

“But how do I practise gratitude?”

 

Easy! Practising gratitude is as simple as pausing for a moment and thinking about something you appreciate or are thankful for.

To make this a habit, you may want to start a gratitude list which you can add to when you think of new things to be grateful for! My gratitude list from today looks like this:

If you want to step up your gratitude, tell someone ‘Thank you’ and really mean it! It may be the first thank you they hear today.

To help you and your little ones practise gratitude, we’ve made a Gratitude Check-In worksheet, which can be downloaded here. Before you set your resolutions, take time with your family to reflect on the day, the week, the month, and the last year and talk about the things you are thankful for.

 

From all of us at Crossroads Family Services, we wish you a happy holiday season and look forward to connecting with you in 2022!

It Takes a Village

Raising a child requires a community working together as a team. As a foster care agency, Crossroads emphasizes keeping a child connected to as many healthy attachments as possible, while supporting foster parents to provide a stable loving home.Fostering is too big of a job to be done alone! Here at Crossroads we support you as you nurture children in your home.

The foster care system is complex with many people playing important roles in the care of children. For successful outcomes it is best for the people involved to work together. At Crossroads we believe in the value of carefully nurtured and deeply rooted attachments for children. This provides a foundation for healing from past trauma and growing up with a healthy and developing self-esteem.

Fostering is not easy but it is worth it! When you are a foster parent, you can provide a safe and stable place for a child and be a positive influence during their critical developmental years. Our mandate is to make wellness possible! This has been a guiding principle as we have served over 1000 children in the last 20 years. Crossroads was built by foster parents, for foster parents, and we truly understand the importance of supporting children and helping families.

As a parent, you strive to maintain a secure and loving environment as you manage the day-to-day responsibilities for children and youth. At Crossroads, our professional team ensures you, your bio children and foster children are supported in the day-to-day routine and challenges fostering brings. We know parenting is hard! Together, our goal is to strengthen your village and the children and teens within it.

To learn more, take a look at what our Director of Foster Care, Jo-Ann Klapstein, and our Foster Care Program Manager, Michelle Caouette have to say about the challenges and rewards of fostering!

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Land Acknowledgement

Crossroads Family Services respectfully acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 territories, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Metis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway and Saulteaux (Anishinaabe), Inuit, Tsuut'ina, Stoney Nakoda peoples and many others whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant community. As an organization serving Indigenous peoples and communities, Crossroads Family Services is dedicated to ensuring the spirits of Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 are honoured and respected. Crossroads is committed to building relationships based on trust, respect, and understanding.