On this episode, Jeff sat down with CASA SHaW advocate Karen Talbert to discuss her story about why she decided to become a CASA volunteer and how we can best be effective in our advocacy for youth living in foster care. Jeff and Karen discussed the learning curves after she became and advocate, and how that learning process created positive impact for the youth on her case. It was a great discussion!

As we embark on a new year of serving youth living in foster care in our region, we outlined and discussed in this episode our CASA goals for 2025. Tracey and Jeff discuss a number of avenues the CASA program will traveling, and endeavors CASA SHaW will be taking on to help serve more children and families.

As we end the 2024 year, our CASA program has accomplished much, and we wanted to share just a few of those accomplishments with you on this episode. From our recent CASA Holiday Shop to our trainings to our fundraising and events efforts to helping kids graduate from high school, we're so proud of what we've done here in 2024.

As the holiday season is here, we wanted to touch on what trauma means for children - and even adults - during this time of year. Cory Matthew, the Program Director from Middle Earth in Somerset County, NJ, talked to us about being more trauma informed. Plus, what is the best way for us to reach children, especially during this time of year when families get together and when there are people celebrating? How can we best reach these kids?

This is Part 3 in our three part series titled "Positive Discipline." In this episode we discuss positive discipline as it pertains to children ages 13 to 18. These are the formative teenage years when parents and youth are challenged in many ways. What are the dos and don'ts in terms of discipline? What responses and communication can be of harm to teenagers, and how can we as adults be good stewards to them? We get into it and provide a lot of great information during this episode.

This is Part 2 in our three part series titled "Positive Discipline." In this episode we discuss positive discipline as it pertains to children ages 6 to 12. What are the dos and don'ts in terms of discipline as these formative years are so critical for children. What responses and communication can be of harm to them, and how can we as adults be good stewards to them? We get into it and provide a lot of great information during this episode.

This is Part 1 in our three part series titled "Positive Discipline." In this episode we discuss positive discipline as it pertains to infancy to children to are 5-years-old. What are the dos and don'ts in terms of discipline as babies and children start to grow? What responses and communication can be of harm to them, and how can your mannerisms and demeanor help them? We get into it during this episode.

What is the future of healing? How can we better understand and embrace that process of healing from trauma? The healing-centered engagement model and C.A.R.M.A. principles shows us how we can do this as a community and society overall. Culture, agency, relationships, meaning, and aspiration are the principles we can utilize. We discuss this in detail during this episode with Tia Sanders from the New Jersey Office of Resilience under the Department of Children and Families.