The Nurtured Heart Approach® is currently being used in initiatives related to Violence Prevention, Anti-Bullying, efforts to increase the efficacy of Juvenile Probation and Recidivism Reduction, programs designed to create successful re-integration of incarcerated youth and adults as well as efforts to enhance the success of returning military. It is also being used in Child Welfare and other systems in conjunction with successful programs such as Wraparound Services and in the Community Treatment of family unification and marital restoration and even for such endeavors as support for women and children in shelters because of domestic violence and for the treatment of Meth addiction.
NHA® in Foster Care
As of 2011 the Drenk Center, a large Foster Care agency in New Jersey reported that they currently have a 0 (zero) rate of broken placements going all the way back to 2007. In years prior to 2007, before teaching the staff and foster parents the Nurtured Heart Approach®, their annual rate of broken placements was in the range of 20-25%. Broken placements involve a great deal of costs as well as a continuation of problems for the children involved. In contrast, when placements go well and foster parents experience the beauty of positively influencing a child, they the foster parents actually welcome more foster children into their home. When it does not go well, well-intentioned parents often call an end to the dream of helping children in this way.
Focus on Youth, a large Foster Care agency in Ohio reported that from 2007 to 2009 not only were broken placements low as a result of using The Nurtured Heart Approach® in all modes of their treatment and care but their utilization of medications for these children dropped to around 18% with a program average population of 70 children. This is in stark contrast to the very high percentage of foster children on medication management in the United States as a whole. They also report that in using the Nurtured Heart Approach® in all aspects of their organization the average length of time parents continue fostering has increased from 2 years prior to NHA® to 5 + years at present.
NHA® in Juvenile Justice
The published findings are from the 1999 “Year in Review” study conducted by Pima County Juvenile Court in relation to the Pre-Adolescent Diversion Project (PADP) of Tucson’s Child and Family Resources. The project’s parenting component and several other aspects of the program including direct services to children were based on The Nurtured Heart Approach®. The project was a 16-hour workshop series over 4 weeks for first offending youth and their families.
According to Pima County Juvenile Court researchers, first offenders referred to other Juvenile Court programs have shown a 32% rate of recidivism, whereas the rate of re-offense for those youth who have completed PADP with their families is only 18%. This represents a 45% rate of improvement over other diversionary programs.
Typically, youth who re-offend do so at escalating rates of intensity, committing bigger crimes and more often. The graduates of PADP who did re-offend committed lesser offenses. The national average at the time of this study was first-offenders having 5 subsequent crimes as a juvenile at escalating levels of severity. The 18% in this study who re-offended had an average of only 1 subsequent crime at an average lesser level of severity than the original offense.
The statistical significance of the 18% rate of recidivism is .00001. This occurrence could not have happened by chance alone. Therefore, the strategies and approach of the Pre-Adolescent Diversion Project have been shown to produce noticeable improvement.
NHA® in Juvenile Justice
The published findings are from the 1999 “Year in Review” study conducted by Pima County Juvenile Court in relation to the Pre-Adolescent Diversion Project (PADP) of Tucson’s Child and Family Resources. The project’s parenting component and several other aspects of the program including direct services to children were based on The Nurtured Heart Approach®. The project was a 16-hour workshop series over 4 weeks for first offending youth and their families.
According to Pima County Juvenile Court researchers, first offenders referred to other Juvenile Court programs have shown a 32% rate of recidivism, whereas the rate of re-offense for those youth who have completed PADP with their families is only 18%. This represents a 45% rate of improvement over other diversionary programs.
Typically, youth who re-offend do so at escalating rates of intensity, committing bigger crimes and more often. The graduates of PADP who did re-offend committed lesser offenses. The national average at the time of this study was first-offenders having 5 subsequent crimes as a juvenile at escalating levels of severity. The 18% in this study who re-offended had an average of only 1 subsequent crime at an average lesser level of severity than the original offense.
The statistical significance of the 18% rate of recidivism is .00001. This occurrence could not have happened by chance alone. Therefore, the strategies and approach of the Pre-Adolescent Diversion Project have been shown to produce noticeable improvement.
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I have been the mother of 27 children altogether. We have bio, adopted and foster children. Our adopted children have come from challenging backgrounds with either drug exposure or extreme emotional trauma. Out of all the books I’ve read, seminars I’ve been to (required 20 hours of yearly foster care ongoing training) and methods I’ve implemented, the Nurtured Heart Approach® is the one that works! This is the first time I haven’t felt burdened with having to be “on” to make sure a program/method works. I’m able to be calm on the inside instead of living in dread of the next road block. We’re also seeing the trickle down affect in other settings with other people. This book [Transforming the Difficult Child] has given me hope. Hope to have a thriving relationship with my Reactive Attachment Disorder guy and hope for my youngest drug exposed guy, that he really can have meaningful relationships and be successful instead of the “dreaded” child on a play date or in class. I’ve seen their confidence grow and it makes it easier for me to really see all the little positive steps that add up to make a difference.
Foster Care Parent
NHA® In Juvenile Justice:
NHA® In Violence Prevention:
Post-Prison Community Re-entry Program, Alameda County, CA (includes Oakland, Berkeley and other municipalities)
From Dr. Lorie Hill: “I use the Nurtured Heart Approach® as part of my work with people returning from prison to Alameda County, which includes Oakland, Berkeley and other municipalities. The people I work with have HIV or AIDS and serious and complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I use the approach in violence prevention along with EMDR, mindfulness and attachment theories as well.”
“The Nurtured Heart Approach® provides a powerful framework for working with people returning from prisons to their communities! Most of us, at least in the U.S., don’t get nearly enough praise or acknowledgment. So to praise people returning from prison for their successes, and to acknowledge their hard work and skill in surviving, emphasizes people’s strengths. People in prison often receive very little acknowledgment or praise.”
NHA® In Prevention of Child Abuse:
Casa de los Ninos in Tucson, Arizona has a host of prevention programs and ongoing support of neglected and abused children. Their agency “helps protect our community’s greatest natural resource: children. Each child is an individual who cannot be replaced. Every child who dies from abuse or neglect, diminishes us all.”
Casa de los Ninos integrates the Nurtured Heart Approach® into a variety of programs from shelters to respite care to foster/adoptive care.
NHA® With Seniors – Aging Well:
The City of Albuquerque Department of Senior Affairs has adopted the Nurtured Heart Approach® across it’s programming and in how it functions as a staff.
The Senior Affair’s director, Jorja Brasher is particularly excited about how this approach lends itself to overall health and well-being of the program participants and to the endeavors of “aging well.” She talks about what she’s seeing as early evidence of the program’s success in citing such things as elders being more active and playful, enjoying themselves more and having more of a purpose.
One of the programs based entirely on the Nurtured Heart Approach® is called Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, a program holding the intention of helping grandparents to feel vital in imparting wisdom and success to their grandchildren and helping the grandparents to feel revitalized by the impact they are having. They feel great about seeing this as a “building of their enduring legacy, for now and beyond.” The program is the conceptual creation of Wayne and Jolene Mayes.
NHA® in a Hospital Setting:
Banner Estrella Medical Center, a 214-bed acute care facility in Phoenix, Arizona, has a culture that combines cutting-edge innovation with high doses of kindness in support of its mission to make a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care. In keeping with this culture of innovation and kindness, the Medical Surgical Department decided to launch The Nurtured Heart Approach® to leaders during an all-day retreat in March 2011. The goal: create a culture of “Greatness” where associates make choices from a place of personal strength and inner wealth.
This NHA® retreat has had significant impact on the Medical Surgical unit. In August, the unit participated in a hospital-wide survey, which measures culture, effectiveness and engagement. This survey included the question “My immediate leader makes me feel valued and part of the team.” In 2010, that question carried a 74 percent favorable response rate for the Medical Surgical unit. This year, after five months of being recognized in the Nurtured Heart way, the Medical Surgical unit members answered the same question with an 87 percent favorable response rate. This national survey has a “best in class” response rate at 78 percent. Overall, all Medical Surgical leaders received exceptionally high scores. They have also seen a marked increase in engagement with the highest participation ever in the department Shared Leadership, which is led entirely by front-line associates. Every day, as the leaders interact with their direct reports, they consistently show sincere appreciation and purposefully acknowledge qualities of greatness. Leaders perceive that this Nurtured Heart Approach® is having a positive impact, and measurable outcomes are proving them correct.
NHA® In Professional Training:
One additional measure of The Nurtured Heart Approach® is in relation to the training of professionals. The approach is so readily transferred to other professional that they become greatly competent in a relatively short period of time.
The Center for the Difficult Child (CDC) in Tucson, Arizona accepted its first two interns, both Masters Degree students in the University of Phoenix Marriage and Family Program, in 1999. Within two months, both were so effective with families in treatment that they were comparable to senior therapists in both the results they produced and their own perceived level of competency.
In the year 2000, the last year of this program, five more interns applied to this therapy training program and followed suit in their level of confidence. CDC attributes a great deal of the success of the training to the inherent power of the model: The Nurtured Heart Approach®.