If you're anything like me, August is when you find yourself repeating to all of your friends and colleagues, "Wow, this summer really flew by!"

As we bid farewell to the long-anticipated, hot summer days, we may also feel a glimmer of hope for routine and normalcy. The kids go back to school and we all reset our calendars for more predictable weeks ahead. Phew! As you get back into your routine, here are three very simple things you can incorporate into your morning that will make a big impact.

SET AN INTENTION

When we set positive intentions, we override the unintentional feelings and behaviors that often flood our day, like frustration, impatience or anger. As soon as you wake up in the morning, sit up in your bed (straight spine), close your eyes and relax your body. Take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth and then set an intention for the day that is important to you. Think: Today, I will be kind to myself. Today I will be patient with others. Today I will give generously. Today I will be present with my children. Revisit your intention throughout the day and find ways to follow through.

CELEBRATE THE SMALL WINS

Before your day officially begins, I want you to find three ways to celebrate how awesome you are! Your brain doesn't know the difference between celebrating a huge award or celebrating when you remember to floss your teeth! Acknowledging the small wins impacts your emotions in a positive way. If you start your day celebrating yourself, your performance throughout the day will soar. Think: I got up early today. I moved my body this morning. I sat down and ate breakfast. I took a quiet moment for myself.

HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Oprah was on to something with gratitude journals, but you'll benefit more by approaching your entire life with an attitude of gratitude. This means appreciating things big and small throughout your day. Gratitude will change how you see the world, and creates a filter through which you experience more joy, happiness and physical and emotional health! Think: I’m grateful to wake up this morning and feel good. I’m grateful I get to have breakfast with my family. I really appreciate that my partner ran that errand. It was so kind of my friend to call and check on me.

What We're Loving

• Powerful Breathing Exercises (listen)
• The Powerful Connection between Your Hips & Your Emotions (read)
• Yoga Poses to Heal from Trauma (do)
• Back-to-School Help from Dr. Becky (learn)

A Journey to Resilience

A Journey to Resilience

When we talk about healing and becoming strong again, being part of a community is very important. A community is a group of people who support each other, and this can be really helpful for those who are trying to get better from tough times or addiction. A community gives people a place where they feel like they belong, they have a purpose, and everyone helps each other out.

Imagine a place where everyone feels important and understood—a place that’s full of kindness, where people listen to each other and everyone is welcome. This kind of community is the best place to heal. Here, people can talk about their feelings and share their stories without being scared of what others will think. Whether it’s at community centers, support groups, or clubs, healing starts with feeling safe and supported.

But it’s not just about feeling safe. The strong connections we make with others in the community are what really help us become resilient. When communities focus on building these positive relationships, they create a strong support system that can help everyone through tough times. Having friends and activities in the community gives people emotional support and practical help, making life better by offering friendship when they feel lonely and cheering them on when things get hard.

Please continue reading this article for free on Journey Magazine's website, where the article originally appeared.

It's summertime! July is here, and it's the perfect time to get outside and bask in the vast beauty of our astounding state. Nature has an incredible ability to evoke awe, a profound emotion that brings a sense of interconnectedness, peace, harmony, calm, curiosity, and wonderment.

Research shows that awe promotes well-being in both youth and adults. Experiencing awe can make us feel more connected to others, enhance our sense of wonder, and even improve our mental health. Students involved in awe-inducing experiences show greater learning gains and tend to be more curious and committed to their studies. Additionally, spending time in nature is a powerful way to evoke awe and foster a sense of belonging. When children spend time in nature, their sense of awe and belonging increases. This sense of connectedness promotes prosocial behavior, including increased generosity and ethical decision-making.

Let's step outside, feel the sun on our faces, breathe in the fresh air, and let the awe of nature enrich our lives this summer. Whether it's a hike through the woods, a day at the beach, or simply gazing at the night sky, these moments can bring a profound sense of well-being, belonging, and curiosity. Let's inspire our youth to explore and appreciate the natural wonders around them. Happy July!

Resources We're Loving:

• Cultivate a sense of awe: 6 ideas
• Fun ways to help your children experience awe 

This Pride Month, we celebrate the intersection of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) and Positive Psychology with the values of inclusivity and acceptance. Research shows that PCEs, such as feeling safe, supported, and valued, can significantly enhance resilience and mental health outcomes and reduce the risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide among LGBTQIA+ individuals. 

MRBN is dedicated to embracing diversity and promoting protective factors, recognizing that these values are essential for empowering LGBTQIA+ youth to thrive. Let’s work together to create safe, affirming relationships and environments that recognize and celebrate every child's unique identity, ensuring a brighter, more connected future for all.

Please continue reading MRBN's June 2024 newsletter for free here.

In our continuous journey to understand and support recovery, the significance of resilience and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) emerges as a cornerstone for nurturing well-rounded, healthy individuals.

It’s crucial to recognize the diverse roles that all caregivers and community members play in nurturing well-rounded, healthy youth. This includes not just educators in schools, but also mentors in programs like the Girl and Boy Scouts, community group leaders, and other individuals who interact with children and teens.

Please continue reading this article for free on Journey Magazine's website, where the article originally appeared.

As we observe Mental Health Awareness Month, I’d like to introduce the beautiful Japanese art of Kintsugi (kin-su-gi) as a powerful metaphor for understanding and addressing mental health. Kintsugi, which translates to "golden joinery," involves mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This not only restores the object but also highlights its fractures as part of its history, rather than disguising them. This philosophy can be profoundly mirrored in our approach to mental health. Often, the scars and breaks we experience, whether emotional or psychological, are viewed as blemishes to conceal. However, like Kintsugi teaches us, these marks are not merely signs of fragility but are testaments to our resilience and capacity to heal. They make our stories unique and our identities richer. Embracing the Kintsugi mindset encourages us to acknowledge and respect our past traumas and challenges as integral parts of us that make us stronger and more beautiful. How can we apply the principles of Kintsugi in our lives to foster a more compassionate and supportive environment where everyone can find strength in their scars? Please continue reading MRBN's May 2024 newsletter for free here.

MRBN is thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Delvina Miremadi-Baldino as our new Executive Director, effective May 1, 2024. With a passionate commitment to resilience and well-being, Dr. Miremadi-Baldino is set to lead MRBN into a future rich with promise and purpose.

Dr. Miremadi-Baldino has dedicated her career to the intersection of education, psychology, and resilience. Her expertise as MRBN's Deputy Director and nearly twenty-year history of working across education, healthcare, for-profit and non- profit sectors have distinguished her as a recognized leader and behavioral health change agent. She brings the unique skills of translating research, program development and a deep understanding of how to weave health equity into the fabric of Maine, empowering every individual, family, and community to flourish.

Under Dr. Miremadi-Baldino's leadership, MRBN will continue to champion innovative strategies that foster resilience and support mental health across the lifespan. Through her commitment to promoting the science of the positive, cultivating youth mattering and building thriving communities, MRBN will champion a preventative approach, ensuring a thriving future for all.

We thank you all for your continued support and partnership as we welcome Delvina into her new role. You can reach Delvina at delvina@maineresilience.org - she'd love to hear from you!

Please continue reading MRBN's April 2024 newsletter for free here.

MRBN's executive director, Kini-Ana Tinkham, is announcing her retirement after a career focused on improving health for youth and families. In 2019, Kini worked with a steering committee of MRBN Network members, with support from the Bingham Program, to create the organizational structure for the Maine Resilience Building Network (MRBN) as an organization dedicated to addressing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). MRBN became a non-profit 501(c)3 focused on improving the health and well-being of children, families and communities through capacity building, system integration, policy, and advocacy. As President of the MRBN Board of Directors, Dan Puhlman states, "The Directors recognize Kini for her significant and visionary leadership in developing the organization and advancing its mission beyond the early founding concepts. Maine children and families have benefitted from Kini’s deep compassion and advocacy in changing the culture for community systems to support and empower youth and families to thrive." Early in MRBN’s work, Kini recognized a significant issue in the Maine Youth Integrated Health Survey (MIYHS) – too many Maine youth felt that they did not matter in their community. As a result, under Kini’s leadership, MRBN launched Cultivating Mattering for Maine Youth in 2020 with the release of a white paper  calling attention to the mounting evidence that lack of social connectedness and other contributors was contributing to an epidemic of diseases of despair among young people. Initial engagement strategies brought more than 600 leaders and stakeholders together for a series of presentations and guided discussions, including Thought Leader Roundtables and Community Conversations.  MRBN’s spotlight on this critical youth mental health issue was complemented by the engagement of two international leaders in mattering: Dr. Gordon Flett of York University, Toronto, the leader in research on youth mattering; and Dr. Christina Bethell of Johns Hopkins University, a leader in the application of research on relational health and mattering. Recognizing that community-developed solutions are key to addressing this issue, MRBN secured seed funding from ASTHO, (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials) and collaborations with Maine CDC and Public Health Partners to develop the “Maine Youth Thriving: A Guide for Community Action”. To accompany this tool, MRBN developed youth-informed messages for enhancing youth mattering in communities, and commenced work with communities to engage cross-sector approaches to advancing youth thriving.  The issue of youth mattering in Maine communities is now being addressed organically and with MRBN’s engagement in numerous communities throughout Maine. It has been cited as a key protective factor in the Maine Opioid Response Strategic Plan. MRBN’s work on youth mattering has received attention from numerous national leadership organizations including the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM); The Foundation for Social Connectedness; the Scientific American, among others.   MRBN has advanced its early mission by following emerging science and public health practice that recognizes the importance of successful, supportive systems for youth mental health promotion. MRBN is a statewide leader in the integration of the HOPE Model (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) by Bob Sege and his colleagues at Tufts Medical Center, and the work of Christina Bethell from Johns Hopkins. MRBN has integrated Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) into its work, including trainings, consultations, and community systems engagement initiatives. MRBN has advanced the concept that all work in this field should include this important research, the next generation of building resilience to the impact of ACEs. Through Kini’s work in advancing the science and practice of resilience in Maine, MRBN has formed collaborative partnerships with numerous national public health leadership organizations and worked to translate their work in Maine. This includes the George Washington University Center for Community Resilience, Healthy Places By Design, and Foundation for Social Connection with their work on advancing social connectedness. Kini’s work at MRBN caps a career focusing on maternal and child health, including home visitation, school-based health centers, youth leadership, family planning, clinical healthcare delivery, leadership, and public health. She is a past recipient of the Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN) Youth Leadership and Advocacy award, and recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Tufts University Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) Program.

We are profoundly grateful and delighted that 183 community change-makers from across Maine were able to join us for MRBN's 2023 Biennial Summit. Our theme was "Together We Can Thrive: Creating an equitable path forward to promote resilience in Maine Communities." 

The Summit featured two days of learning from National experts and local community leaders, workshop sessions, panel presentations, and networking. Our focus: prevention policies and programs prioritizing resilience for our youth, families, and communities to improve our State’s overall health and mental wellbeing.

Day #1

Dr. Wendy Ellis, Founding Director of the Center for Community Resilience at Georgetown University, School of Public Health and an expert in community resilience, provided our keynote, “Community Resilience: Connecting Trauma, Equity, and Resilience,” and afternoon workshop addressing opportunities to enhance the health of Maine youth, families, and communities by applying the Community Resilience Model with communities in Maine.

Dr. Ellis developed the model which focuses on reducing and eliminating adversity by fostering equity through policy, practice, and program change. She used the “Pair of ACEs” – adverse childhood experiences in the context of adverse community environments to highlight concrete examples of how multiple sectors are collaborating to address some of these issues in other locations around the country.

The afternoon workshop created action-oriented discussions to identify adverse community environments and highlight what healing would look like through community strength identification and assets for community resilience.

Day #2

In the morning on day two, we focused on using Maine experts to ground attendees in the concept of Mattering, share the development process for understanding and communicating the voices of Maine youth, and the creation of the Maine Youth Thriving Guide. Additionally, new community sector-specific materials were shared by the MRBN team that are action-oriented and tailored by sector. The morning concluded with a diverse panel of local partners who work with youth in various capacities. They shared their experiences and aspects of empowering youth that synced well with the eight keys to youth thriving, identified in the “Maine Youth Thriving: A Guide for Community Action.” 

In the afternoon session, Risa Wilkerson and Phil Bors of Healthy Places by Design presented a keynote followed by a workshop focusing on the work on “Socially Connected Communities- Solutions for Social Isolation.” The two-part session prioritized policies and systems to ensure community social connectedness. Participants learned about the impact of social isolation on human health, its roots in community policies, norms, and innovative solutions that build trust and reconnect neighbors.

Audience Reactions & Participant Feedback

“A big thank you to Dr. Wendy Ellis and all the organizers behind MRBN. The event was incredible.”

“Appreciate the emphasis on deep root causes, especially Dr. Ellis’s presentation.”

“Changing our narrative & being truthful about our history.”

“The depth and breadth of factors that contribute to community resiliencies.”

“Wendy was incredible!”

“Powerful connections to Maine’s struggles and successes.”

“Great day, great speakers.”

“Thanks for organizing. It feels great to be among energetic and passionate people.”

“The networking that came of conversations was awesome!”

“I now understand social connectedness, and I know how important this is and to do this in my community.”

96.83% of participants agree: "I better understand the intersection of community policy and practice to impact youth and family thriving.

76.19% of participants agree: "I can put this information into practice in my own organization."

100% of participants agree: "The Summit was informative."

Moving Forward

Moving forward as an organization, this summit is a springboard to working more intentionally to engage various sectors (i.e., businesses, schools, faith organizations, municipal government at the community and state levels, and more.) Since the Summit, participants are contacting us to provide training and technical assistance to implement the Youth Thriving Guide.

As we have seen, a little awareness and understanding have motivated people to take positive action. Summit participants highlighted the desire to keep connected with others, and we shared the continued opportunity to be a part of our monthly social connection and youth-mattering learning circles. This confirmed our intention to keep the need for connection moving forward.

Once again, thank you for your support of MRBN’s work. You Matter!

For Parents, Caregivers & Youth-serving Professionals

Child Trends: Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-Being During the Covid-19 Pandemic

CDC: Taking Care of Your Emotional Health

CDC: Helping Children Cope With Emergencies

Wellness Apps: 1. Headspace, 2. Stop, Breathe, Think, 3. Calm, 4. Insight Timer

For Youth-Serving Professionals & Health Care Workers

Maine Frontline Warm Line for Clinicians & First Responders 

For Communities

MRBN Brief and Executive Summary

George Washington University Center for Community Resilience 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, US Department of Commerce’s Community Resilience Resources

Health.gov Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience Efforts

National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Community Resilience Resources

Rand Corporation Community Resilience Resources