These are just a few of the outcomes of receiving a grant through Minneapolis Health Department to build caregiver capacity and resilience. Something that makes Care for the Caregivers unique is that it’s focused on caregivers vs. parents. At Change Inc., part of our mission is that “Relationships are the key to change.” Focusing specifically on caregivers opens up an entire audience of adults to relationships they can use who might otherwise not know where to look for support. Care for the Caregivers seeks to reduce caregiver stress created by the pandemic and other crises. Caregivers with less stress have more to offer those children in their care.  ​

​For over 20 years, Mitch Walking Elk led Change Inc.’s Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society. Now, after Mitch’s retirement this past June, the Society has been taken over by Nina Berglund (she/her/they/them). The mentoring program teaches American Indian youth cultural skills and knowledge through an intensive apprenticeship to deliver a definite and positive impact. Participants further develop their cultural identity and strengths to overcome barriers related to systemic racism and intergenerational poverty.
 
With funding provided through a grant from the Saint Paul Children’s Collaborative (SPCC), Change Inc.’s Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society provides access to traditional elders and healing instructors for American Indian Youth, ages 10-18, and their parents or families.
 
The core goal of Change Inc.’s Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society is to harness the inherent power of cultural identity to help empower and stabilize American Indian families who face barriers related to historical trauma, systemic racism, and poverty resulting from hundreds of years of oppression, abuse, and forced relocation.
 
Mitch Walking Elk is an enrolled member of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma and also part Hopi. He provided one-to-one weekly mentoring for participants and weekly two-hour group meetings for cultural instruction.  Participants also assisted Walking Elk in officiating ceremonies such as pipe, sweat lodge, Sun Dance, healing/doctoring, naming, fasting (vision quest), Midewin and seasonal ceremonies, as well as learning to make drums, moccasins, shakers and prepare meat and berries for ceremonial use.
 
But now, there is a new lead mentor for the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society. Nina Berglund, 23, is Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota. They grew up in St. Paul and now live in South Minneapolis. As a Community Cultural Specialist with Change Inc., she not only works in schools with students, but is the new leader for the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society.
 
How they came to be in this position is a unique story. Nina started out as a participant of the program led by Mitch Walking Elk. The mentoring group used to be focused on young Native American males. However, Nina tagged along with her younger brother to the group one day and never looked back. Program leader at the time, Walking Elk, made the decision to open the group to all Native American youth and young adults, which, in turn, brought about a great deal of family involvement.
 
More and more family members of the participants began attending the group which is important because ceremony is so interconnected within the family. To live your life in a ceremonial way included involving your family members and those that you live with. According to the National Library of Medicine’s Native Voices Exhibition, “Ceremony is an essential part of traditional Native healing. Because physical and spiritual health are intimately connected, body and spirit must heal together. Traditional healing ceremonies promote wellness by reflecting Native conceptions of Spirit, Creator, and the Universe. They can include prayer, chants, drumming, songs, stories, and the use of a variety of sacred objects.”
 
As a mentee in Walking Elk’s group, Nina was able to experience a multitude of opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise been a part of. Mitch took the mentoring group to many different ceremonies, elder music gatherings, and even took them on the Longest Walk 5 in 2016, which is run by the American Indian Movement (the first Longest Walk took place in 1978). Nina said “I know personally it helped create connections in the community because thanks to attending those ceremonies and being a part of them, I've grown an entire family of people who go to ceremony, and who I consider my family.”
 
Another source of enlightenment came from being a mentee in Change Inc.’s Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society, and that was learning about the Doctrine of Discovery and the papal bulls. Walking Elk first showed the Doctrine of Discovery video to the group about 5 years ago. According to The Upstander Project, “The Doctrine of Discovery established a spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization and seizure of land not inhabited by Christians. The papal bulls were decrees that began in the 1100s, which included sanctions, enforcements, authorizations, expulsions, admonishments, excommunications, denunciations, and expressions of territorial sovereignty for Christian monarchs supported by the Catholic Church.”
 
After watching the film, the group of young mentees were rightfully upset and concerned. This led to Mitch proposing the idea of taking action. And so, in 2018, they fundraised and made enough money to travel to and meet with Vatican officials. As Nina shares, “We took the initiative, we did it, we fundraised, we went out there, met with community members and ultimately were in communication with the Vatican. And it was all due to the group.”
 
This started a whirlwind of movement, not only in the youth that traveled to the Vatican, but in the community. The movement was centered on the atrocities of the Catholic Church, and people like Christopher Columbus. Nina says that the activism component of the mentoring program was hugely influential to her, stating “The activism piece of the mentoring program, I think, is what Mitch really put into it. We can live our life in a ceremonial way, but understanding that our existence is a form of activism and by us as young people standing up and walking the way of our traditional ways, it actually benefits us so much more. And with this activism piece, we did all of it in ceremony and we made sure to do everything very intentionally by asking permission and following our customs.” They now view themself as a climate activist and Native Rights activist and say they are “fighting for the future generations on behalf of land, water, and our nations.”
 
A few years went by and just last year Mitch invited Nina and her brother down to Mexico to take part in a ceremony. While they were there, Mitch posed the question to Nina of what she would think about taking over for him as the leader of the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society when he retired. Nina said “At that time I didn't really think too much of it. I was 22 years old and at first, I said, ‘yeah, sure, that sounds cool,’ not understanding at that moment what would come with it.” Mitch brought it up to them again a few months later, and Nina started truly considering the opportunity.
 
Mitch very much encouraged Nina and told her she was the best fit for this role, being a mentee in the program herself. They began to think of how they could step into the position and mold the program into what they saw as being successful. She said she wanted to do it in a way that she could do the things she wished she had saw growing up, while still building upon all that Mitch had poured into this program over the years.
 
Soon after, Nina accepted a full-time position with Change Inc. as a Community Cultural Specialist and as the new leader of the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society. Walking Elk officially retired in July of this year, moving back to Oklahoma where he is originally from.
 
Nina says their intention of taking this position is to offer opportunities to the young people who often get overlooked. She says, “At the Youth shelter I previously worked at, seeing the kids there who are in such need of some type of culture, or of some type of language, some type of sense of identity —these kids have fallen into the cracks of the system. And personally, in experiencing that, in making relation and making connection with those kids, it makes me realize that as I'm getting older, it's my responsibility to be that person that those young people can look up to.”
 
Having their spiritual mentor, Walking Elk, tell them he believed in them made Nina emotional. She says she has also received good reassurance from her supervisor, Rich Garland, which has given her confidence as she finds her way in this new chapter in her life. In reference to Rich Garland’s reassurance they said, “I feel like that was just a continuation of Mitch’s words and Mitch’s impact on me. Sitting back and thinking, although I am a young person, and just last year I was just like a mentee in the program, to now this year being the organizer of the program— it is overwhelming, but it means so much to me and I know it means a lot to the community.”
 
One other aspect they feel is extremely important as they take over the group, is the identity of “two-spirit” youth. As Nina explained, two-spirit refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and feminine spirit, and ultimately are a part of the LGBTQ community. Nina themself identifies as Panromantic Demisexual two-spirit.
 
When forming their role with Change Inc., Nina discussed that the youth they had great interest in working with were LGBTQ youth and Trans Native youth. She says access to Ceremony for queer youth is really hard “because of peoples’ internalized homophobia, because of colonization, and because of boarding schools.” So, one of her main goals is to shine a light on these youth who need support because if that's a child's identity and that's how they choose to identify, then they should have access to these resources whether they identify as that or not.
 
As the year is ending, Nina’s focus is on getting the programming she took over from Mitch up and running again with grant funding from the SPCC. She hopes to host a fall feast for program members and families in the upcoming weeks as well to reunite the community. While they more than appreciate all the work Walking Elk has put into the Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society and who it has made them, they are also excited to put their own spin on the group and shape it into something even bigger for the Native American community members it will continue to serve.

​For more than 20 years, GAP School has provided its’ students the opportunity to complete 300 community service hours in order to earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award that can be used to pay for secondary education and/or student loans. Not only does this benefit students by giving them an opportunity to earn money towards their higher education goals, but it also is a unique way to give back to the community in which they live and go to school.
 
Students ages 18 to 24 within GAP’s Alternative Senior High School and Adult Basic Education programs are eligible to enroll in our YouthBuild AmeriCorps program. This program provides a career pathway through alternative education, job training, and leadership development. While earning a high school diploma, participants acquire the skills and training that will position them for a successful career in healthcare or construction. This is also how they can work towards their 300 hours to earn the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award.
 
According to YouthBuild’s website, AmeriCorps is a national service program that engages more than 75,000 Americans each year in service opportunities that address unmet critical needs in education, environmental stewardship, healthy futures, veterans and military families, economic opportunity, disaster services, and other unmet community needs.
 
For the past few years, as an opportunity for students to complete their hours, GAP School has partnered with Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul. Founded in 1967 by Olivia Irvine Dodge, the Thomas Irvine Dodge Nature Center boasts 460+ acres of nature preserve within the cities of West St. Paul, Mendota Heights, and Cottage Grove. Dodge Nature Center has a mission to provide exceptional experiences in nature through environmental education.
 
Over the years, GAP School students have made their way over to Dodge Nature Center to complete many different service projects as well as take part in lessons from their experienced staff. More recently, projects have taken place at Shepard Farm as well. Dodge Nature Center acquired Shepard Farm in 2013 from the Wilder Foundation and has developed it into a destination for agricultural and environmental education in Washington County.
 
Students in the Construction Pathway program at GAP School helped to fix up a house on Shepard Farm that their on-site interns will live in. Most recently, students have been helping to build a large turkey coop at the farm. As part of our partnership, GAP School highschoolers have also taken part in trainings at Dodge including maple syruping, beekeeping,  tree identification, farm animal tours, and nature hikes.
 
One of the reasons we are so grateful for our partnership with Dodge so much is because it is rooted in nature. Many GAP School students are of the Karen people, who immigrated from Myanmar (formerly Burma). Their homeland was extremely rural, so moving to the urban Twin Cities area was quite an adjustment. The projects and lessons at Dodge Nature Center allow these students to reconnect with nature, which they really enjoy. Da Ra Pow, a student from Burma who has been working at Shepard Farm shared, “I like working on the roof of the coop and being outside.”
 
Through YouthBuild AmeriCorps, GAP School is able to make a difference in our students’ lives by giving them the tools and credentials they need to achieve economic stability and improve potential for higher lifetime earnings. Our goal is to make education and employment training a possibility for young adults in our community who face significant barriers. YouthBuild AmeriCorps propels students toward higher education opportunities while at the same time learning valuable trades that can be used in legitimate careers after graduating.

Semira Jara was one of GAP School’s top students academically in the 2021-2022 school year. As a member of the Healthcare Careers Pathway, she obtained her PCA certification, completed a several months-long Certified Nursing Assistant Training, as well as Clinical Experience with GAP School’s employer Partner, Sholom Community Alliance (Nursing Home). Semira regularly volunteered with Episcopal Homes and participated in all of GAP’s community service projects. Over the course of her time with GAP School, she developed clear goals and expectations for herself, one of which was to receive a scholarship for college.
 
At the end of her experience with GAP School, she was awarded the Thompson Family Scholarship which is now helping fund her post-secondary education. The Thompson Family Scholarship began in 2019 in honor of long time Board Chair Karen Thompson. Every year, one student recipient is selected based on their academic and training performance. All of Semira’s teachers and trainers agreed she had wholeheartedly earned this award.
 
As Semira starts the next chapter in her life, she will attend school at Saint Paul Community College and enroll in classes to complete her 2-year Associate’s Degree in Phlebotomy. She is working full-time as a care taker for a family member and has even received a wage increase since exiting our program. After she completes her Associate’s Degree, she plans to move on to complete her 4-year degree at the University of Minnesota. Semira would not be able to accomplish these goals without her experience and time in GAP School’s YouthBuild program. She is thrilled to be taking steps towards a higher education and our educators at GAP School can’t wait to see what she accomplishes next.
 
Health Pathways Transition Coordinator, Erika Thurston, was able to ask Semira some questions and learn her thoughts about her time at GAP School and what she is excited for coming up. Read Semira’s thoughts below:

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in your time at GAP School?
SJ: “Journaling in Miss Laura’s class about our life and childhood and sharing with each other and learning from other students really taught me that you can accomplish anything if you have people to support you and a strong work ethic. Listening to other students talk about their struggles and backgrounds reminded me of how no matter where you come from or how many challenges you have had, you can build a life for yourself and accomplish your goals.”
 
What excites you most about moving into higher education?
SJ: “I am most excited about learning how to build a successful career and hopefully start a business in which I can better serve my community. I am so passionate about giving back to my community that has allowed me to accomplish my goals. I want to continue to discover more about the power of journalism and hopefully make a difference in the world.”
 
How did/will earning the Thompson Family Scholarship impact your plans after high school?
SJ: “When I found out I got the scholarship I realized that I could do more with my plans after graduation. I planned to go to community college, but with this scholarship, I can also pay for all of the books I will need and supplies and other materials for any training I pursue. My family and I felt that I needed to find more sources of income if I would be able to manage college without more financial support. My entire family is grateful for the scholarship I have received and can’t wait to see what comes from my next chapter.”

​Congratulations, Semira!

​The Change Clinic is a key project of the Community & School Collaborative. Change Clinic provides therapies leading to healing and growth for children, youth, adults, couples and families who may be facing challenges related to transition, traumatic experiences, and other barriers to living life to the fullest. A culturally and linguistically diverse team of clinicians provide services at Change Clinic. Collectively, they are trained in a wide range of therapeutic techniques and approaches, and many specialize in specific challenges or populations. 
 
As Change Clinic was rapidly growing, we began searching for a larger space in order to provide services for more clients, as well as host office space for our administrative staff. When a space opened up just a few doors down from our current location in Northeast Minneapolis, the leaders at Change Inc. decided to make the move.
 
In April 2022, the newly relocated Change Clinic re-opened its’ doors to the community. The new location came at a time when the community was truly in need of its’ expanded services. Wait lists for mental health providers and treatment were months long and community members needed another option. Fortunately, Change Clinic’s growing roster of clinicians and therapists were able to provide for these needs.
 
The new clinic and office space boasts five private therapy rooms, one play therapy room, a large training space, multiple conference rooms, a group room, open-seating desks for admin staff, private offices, and a third-floor bonus space with a rooftop terrace. Many spaces are even available to community groups and programs to rent out for an hourly rate.

Before the Change Clinic, Change Inc. was home to a small outpatient clinic, usually referred to internally as the “clinic project.” To support this expansion, Change Clinic now has a manager, Ana Lewis. Stepping into the position of Clinic Manager in July of 2021, her role’s objectives include recruiting clinicians and clients and growing the clinic in an intentional way to best support healing and growth for clients.
 
So, what brought about the need for an expansion and relocation of Change Clinic? While it was always in the plans to expand mental health services to the community, there had been other programs within Change Inc. that needed to get up and running and stabilized. However, as COVID took over the world, there was suddenly a large need for more mental health support in the community. Many mental health clinics and agencies nearby had, and still have, waiting lists ranging from six weeks to six months. Change Clinic was able to put its’ services into high gear by recruiting many new clinicians, and in turn, many new clients.
 
Currently, Change Clinic clinicians are serving 342 clients, and is continuing to add clinicians to meet the community’s need for mental health services.
 
Serving All Communities
A goal of Change Clinic is to remove barriers to care, and language is top of mind. Change Clinic prioritizes hiring clinicians who are fluent in languages other than English, which allows us to serve clients in a culturally reflective way.

Change Inc. heavily invests in the professional development of its’ staff. Therapists at Change Clinic have the opportunity to take part in different trainings which expands our range of services and expands to whom we can offer them to. Many clinicians have specialties and trainings in particular areas that are in high demand. For example, many clinicians staffed at Change Inc. and through the Co-op are trained in IFS (Internal Family Systems).
 
Another way clinicians get in front of different audiences is by being trained in different modalities that people are searching for online including EMDR, CBT, and Brainspotting, among others. Once a clinician is trained in a specialty such as those previously mentioned, they have the opportunity to put themselves on a “contact list” for clinicians that have that specific training. This can further Change Clinic’s reach and can expand services to more people in the community.
 
Along with expanding who we offer services to, Change Clinic has also been working to increase the range of services offered. The main forms of therapy include talk therapy and play therapy. In addition to building up our outpatient program, Change Clinic is also building up our DC: 0-5 program, which is therapy for children under the age of five. Specific modalities offered via clinicians at Change Clinic include trauma-informed, TF-CBT, IFS, Brainspotting, and EMDR for individuals, couples, and families.
 
Removing barriers to mental health services is the greatest need Change Clinic hopes to help solve. This means quicker access to service for community members, and for some people, simply having access to service at all. We are excited to continue growing and help fill the need for mental support.
 
To find more information about Change Clinic or to inquire about services, visit https://www.thechangeinc.org/csc.

Since its’ inception in 1993, Change Inc. has invested in community solutions to systemic problems and the development of a diverse workforce to heal trauma of children and families. This remains core to our work and lives today, post-merger, in our Change Institute.

The Change Institute brings healing, teaching, and advocacy together to look at influencing systems change and approaching sustainability. In addition, Change Institute works to prepare and support caring adults within our community to best meet mental health needs for children, adults, families, and communities. 
 
Inside the Institute:
Change Inc.’s mission is focused on utilizing the power of relationships and community to create educational, training, and healing opportunities for people so that they can achieve their highest ambitions. With the support of the Change Institute, Change Inc. can provide courses throughout the year to students, interns, therapists, teachers, and others to help them grow their knowledge and understanding of mental health and social cultural concerns.
 
The Change Institute fits into Change Inc.’s overall mission by providing trainings on-site and in the community for therapists, teachers, and other service providers, focusing on social emotional and mental health. Additionally, Change Institute works with employees and contractors to provide clinical supervision and case consultation hours to move towards licensure. One of Change Institute’s main goals is to remove barriers to the path of a career in mental health for those in our community.
 
Someone who knows all about the road to becoming a mental health professional is Nick Krause. Nick is a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and Change Institute’s Training Coordinator. Together, he and Jennifer Garrido Santos, Director of Training, Supervision, and Consultation, work to create and facilitate all of the trainings and coordinate with other trainers to decide not only how they want to train Change Inc.’s staff, but also what trainings to provide to outside agencies and students.
​
Trainings:
In keeping with the mission of Change Inc., it is important to provide the community with culturally sensitive support, education, and knowledge, as well as support BIPOC and LGBTQ+ therapists. Change Institute provides various scholarship opportunities to members of these communities to be able to help lift barriers from education and trainings. This aims to help produce more diverse therapists which, in turn, can provide more diverse services to different communities.
 
The Change Institute provides many culturally-specific trainings as well, such as the “From Race to Culture” supervision course, slated to take place in 2023. This is a course specific to the cultural component of being a supervisor.
 
While many of Change Institute’s trainings are geared towards LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists), it also aims to expand its’ audience to LPCC (Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors) and LICSW (Licensed Independent Clinical Social Workers). It is the Change Institute’s intention to provide trainings for everyone in the mental health field, not just one branch of the field.
 
Change Institute has been facilitating the Clinical Supervision course for close to a decade. However, in the last three years has there been a bigger push to be more intentional in the trainings they provide to hopefully have not only a place in the world of mental health, but possibly one day in academia to help advance the field of therapy.
 
Other courses are normally offered monthly on a variety of subjects ranging from suicide prevention to eating disorders to the relational diagnostic assessment. Change Inc. lends staff member expertise to multiple community initiatives where they are not the host or ‘owner’ of the group, but provide a key role as advisor or developer. While these projects take on many different shapes, they are core to our value and core foundation of living in community.   
 
The Change Institute also holds space for new ideas to develop into a plan. This allows room for innovations in programming, service design, outcome measurements, and impact. At any given point in time, there may be zero or 10 projects living in this space.  
 
Many of the upcoming courses being offered are geared towards therapists, whether that be internally within Change Inc., or external therapists and students. However, the goal is to broaden the audiences that can benefit from the trainings and courses provided by Change Institute. Future targeted audiences include teachers, mental health staff at other agencies, parent and parent psychoeducation groups, and community psychoeducation events. Change Institute hopes to one day work with a variety of different communities and provide trainings for what those specific communities’ needs are.
 
There’s something that sets Change Institute apart from other educational offerings, and that would be its’ intentionality. Change Institute does not operate to make financial gain, rather, it cares deeply about its’ community and who is practicing mental health in the city and state as a whole. Change Institute wants to make sure therapists are providing the best care and that people outside of the therapy community are educated on mental health and social cultural concerns. It is driven by a mission and a worldview that it wants to share with the world and there is a targeted focus to make sure the community is provided with the best care possible.
 
The overarching goals of the educational opportunities offered are to remove barriers for those preparing to become therapists, teachers, and educators and to give them the tools they need to provide direct services to the community. There are so many great educators and providers out in the world working hard to do their job well, and Change Institute aims to make that easier for them. Whether that’s in terms of licensing or education requirements, paperwork, or other obstacles — Change Institute wants to remove these barriers. It also aims to make sure that there are ethical and culturally competent therapists working in our communities. If Change Institute can provide support and training to benefit these providers, then they will have succeeded.
 
Change Institute would not exist without all of the hard work done by Change Inc. before it.
While the Change Institute on its’ own is still very much in its’ infancy, it is hoped that one day it can grow to be a well-known institution that provides support and removes barriers to education in its’ community.
 
Upcoming trainings:
The Bridge Builders MFT National Exam Study Workshop started October 1st and will run virtually on Saturdays through October 22nd. This workshop will be hosted by Ana Lewis (M.A., LMFT, State Approved Supervisor), David Hesse (M.A., LMFT, State Approved Supervisor), Jennifer Garrido Santos (M.A., LMFT, LICSW, State Approved Supervisor), Jody Nelson (Ed.D., LMFT, State Approved Supervisor) and Sue Schroeder (M.A., LMFT). This class is based on the work of Mark Anderson and his Bridge Builders classes. The workshop will address how the exam is written, ethical and social-cultural factors related to the exam, and how to study for the exam. With registration, participants will also receive a digital binder filled with everything they need to know for the exam, including all theoretical models and their theorists. This study workshop is LMFT-specific.
 
The Change Institute, in partnership with Relationships LLC. and Both/And Resources, is also hosting a Clinical Supervision Course running virtually on Mondays from October 10th through December 5th. This course will be facilitated by Bruce Minor (M.A., LMFT), Jennifer Garrido Santos (M.A., LMFT, LICSW), Jody Nelson (Ed.D., LMFT), Joe Reid (Ph.D., LMFT, and Lisa Xiong (M.A., LMFT). Topics will include ethics in supervision, supervision in diverse communities, power and privilege in supervision, self-of-the therapist/supervisor, awareness of relational patterns, and solution-focused problem-solving. The Clinical Supervision Course is open to LMFT, LPCC, and LICSW.