A welcoming, healing space

This most recent post is written by Simply Smiles Clinical Director Hallie Riggs, MSW, LCSW, CSW-PIP. Hallie outlines the therapeutic support services available to youth in our care, the foster family households, and biological family and kin at the Reservation Children’s Village. With the success of our 2021 Keep Hope Alive virtual fundraiser, we will soon be breaking ground on our therapy and wellness building, where these therapy services will be offered.

The primary intention of the therapeutic center on the Reservation Children's Village campus is to provide a safe, welcoming space for children to receive individual, group, and family therapy, as needed.

When a child first arrives at the Children's Village, an assessment is completed in order to determine the strengths and needs of each child, who in their world is most important to them, and how clinical staff at the Village can best use this information to support their healing. For some children, that healing can be best achieved through trauma-informed, child-centered individual therapy.

Circle of Courage®. Click the image to learn more.

Cultural components incorporated in therapy include being in nature, storytelling, planting, making music, beading, dancing, horseback riding, and other Lakota-centered approaches that promote healing. As a foundational resource, we view our clinical work through the lens of the Circle of Courage, “a model of positive youth development based on the universal principle that to be emotionally healthy all youth need a sense of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.”

Family therapy may also be provided at the Children’s Village, if it is determined to be clinically appropriate. An example of this might be that a biological parent and child participate in family therapy sessions in order for the child to safely express their needs prior to reunification. Another example might be that the child and the foster parent participate in family sessions in order to help build trust and articulate needs and expectations within the shared foster home.

Many of the children who will come to live at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village have experienced similar types of trauma: abuse and neglect, domestic violence, substance use exposure, death of or separation from loved ones, and other adversities. One of the best sources of support that children with these experiences can receive is the solidarity, normalcy, and comfort that comes from group therapy with peers. These groups typically have areas of focus, such as: social skills building, expressive arts, coping skills enhancement, and understanding trauma, to name a few. These groups are tailored to the specific needs of the children and teenagers living at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village, facilitated by our clinical staff.

On-site therapeutic resources also include support groups, coaching, and training for foster parents, as well as for birth family and other important people in children's lives, as needed. In order to truly meet the needs of the children in our care, it is essential that our clinical team is also supporting the adults closest to them: their birth family and the Foster Parents caring for them at the Children’s Village. Support groups for biological caregivers and for Foster Parents may be geared toward topics like self-care, understanding trauma, techniques for managing challenging behavior, among others. The therapeutic center is a welcoming, inclusive place where these groups and training can take place.

At the Simply Smiles Children's Village, we prioritize maintaining safe, meaningful connections with the people who are most important to the children in our care. When visits take place with birth parents, siblings, grandparents, or other important people, they occur at the therapeutic center. This home-like setting allows for family to cook a meal in the kitchen, watch a movie in the common area, play outside, and be together in a way that doesn't feel institutionalized or cold, but rather, warm and home-like. This important component of our philosophy and work led to designing a therapeutic center that included these communal spaces.

The Simply Smiles Children’s Village was designed intentionally with clinical support on-site so that whether a child experiences an emergency and is in need of immediate mental health support, or if foster parents would like to have an impromptu chat to share about a recent concern or strategize ways to help children at home, our clinical staff are a phone call and a few minutes away.

a village of foster homes:

An architectural rendering of the Simply Smiles Children’s Village, including four foster homes, a common building, and a therapy center. Click the image to take a virtual tour!

Sunset at the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Reservation, overlooking two of our foster homes.

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Take action: Make trauma-informed resources available in our communities!

Written by Hallie Riggs, MSW, LCSW, CSW-PIP, Clinical Director of the Simply Smiles Children’s Village

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I recently joined a national trauma-informed organization called the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice. The Campaign's goal is to educate Congress about what science has taught us about trauma, and to make them aware of the trauma-informed resources present and lacking in our communities. This is an imperative for children who are growing up on the Cheyenne River Reservation without adequate support to heal from traumatic experiences.

In order to ensure that kids have access to counselors, doctors, teachers, and other helpers who understand how to best treat the effects of trauma, we must implore Congress to create legislation that recognizes the importance of trauma-informed policy.

Recently, I reached out to South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson to ask him to consider joining the bipartisan House Trauma-Informed Care Caucus. The Caucus' goal is to identify opportunities to tether trauma-informed care efforts to federal legislation and operations. Sending him the email was a fleeting moment, but the impact of getting involved has stayed with me all week.

At a time when so many of us feel helpless, stuck, and separated from the kids we care about, what an opportunity to do something tangible, together, for kids everywhere.

The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice has to be a national effort because childhood trauma is a national problem. Bigger than that, it's universal. It is present in every community, town, city, state, and country. It is present in the absence of a pandemic, and child welfare experts know that it is exacerbated in the presence of one.

So, if you're up to it, here's my invitation to you: Send an email to your congressional delegation and encourage them to join the House Trauma-Informed Care Caucus. Get involved! 

What an amazing notion, that during a time when our unbelievably dedicated Simply Smiles community is unable to come together in person, we have the opportunity to speak collectively on behalf of the kids we know and the kids we don't. Because every child deserves to feel safe.

Ensuring safety, security, bright futures for children during times of stress

Written by Hallie Riggs, MSW, LCSW, CSW-PIP, Clinical Director of the Simply Smiles Children’s Village

With this worldwide pandemic comes uncertainty for all of us–especially children. History teaches us that during times of a global crisis, children experience greater suffering.

For parents, loss of jobs and suspension of wages means stress. Stress means a limited bandwidth for caring for children. When caregivers are stressed and don’t have access to the support and tools they need, we see an increase in child abuse. We also see an increase in substance use. And in domestic violence. 

Many children depend upon their school environment for basic needs like safety, nutrition, and connection. The closing of schools means food insecurity. It also means an absence of adequate supervision. As a child therapist, I have asked many children over the years who their “safe person” is. In other words, who do they feel they can turn to when they have a problem? Countless times, kids and teenagers have told me, without hesitation, that it’s their English teacher. Their school nurse. Their guidance counselor. Their best friend, who they sit with every day at lunch. 

In light of school closings, social distancing, and mandatory quarantine, these protective relationships are absent, leaving many children vulnerable and without the support they need to navigate an increasingly unpredictable day-to-day reality.

COVID-19 impacts children currently living in foster care. Foster parenting is, for all intents and purposes, a volunteer job. While foster parents receive a stipend for things like clothing and daycare, many of the day-to-day expenses of parenting fall on them. In light of so many of these caregivers being unable to work, losing their primary sources of income, child welfare providers are anticipating disruptions in placement. This means children being moved from the homes that have become familiar to them, enduring more trauma. 

The first home in the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

At the Simply Smiles Children’s Village, we provide safety, predictability, and love at a time when children need it most. In spite of this pandemic, and especially because of it, our work must continue. With our first of six village homes built, and with the support of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the state of South Dakota, our primary focus is in securing Native caregivers on whom the children in our care can count.

To our Native partners, to those who have been behind our effort since the beginning, and to those who are just learning about the work we do–we need you now more than ever. 

To those of you who have always contemplated becoming a foster parent, and to those of you who may be considering such a commitment for the first time–we need you now more than ever. We need Native adults who are willing to dedicate their love, time, and energy to the next generation. Please consider joining our initiative.

We can think of no better way to spend our minutes together on this earth, than by securing bright futures for our children.

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