Welcome to Our S.H.I.F.T. Programs

We grow our own food and preserve seeds share with you after Harvest time.  We invite you to volunteer at our garden and enjoy any food that is ripe to take home with you too!  We can connect you with culturally appropriate food to those who need it.  We invite you to attend community gatherings to enjoy and share prepared food once a month.  We have nutritious recipes to share and we offer in person and virtual traditional cooking sessions to teach how to prepare and cook some of our favorite traditional meals.

We incorporate our cultural traditions into our daily living and we look forward to sharing the teachings that were passed down to us for generations.  From our home to your home, we are here to reintroduce a natural rhythm to balance your life.  

We offer focused areas according to the chapter of life you or your loved one needs:

• Self Assuredness
• Relationship Strengthening
• Career Empowerment
• Overcoming Loss & Transformation
• Family Planning
• Infant & Early Child
• Children to Pre-Teen
• Teenager
• Young Adult
• Mature Adult
• Elder

We offer "Hikes with Purpose," and other Seasonal outdoor activities.  We can connect you with community partners to participate in other activities.  Being active for 30 minutes to 1 hour each day is a good place to start.  Depending on what areas you would like to focus on, we can help incorporate fun ways to be active and encourage others in your circle to be active too!   

What is Self-Care?  To take care of yourself is not being selfish, but it is essential to have yourself (Mind, Body, Soul) in a healthy balance, in order for other areas of your life to be in alignment.  Share areas of your life that you feel at peace and areas of your life that feel stressful.  What are some ways that you take time for yourself to relax and support your individual well-being?  Do you listen to music, meditate, or some other ways that are calming.

Now that you are able to respect and love yourself, let's open our hearts and minds to expanding that into all relationships in your life.  Consider what strengths you share and what you would like to receive in your relationships.  Let go of expectations of others, identify what are some examples of a healthy relationship and learn how to set boundaries.  These skills will apply to any relationship you have in life and how we would like to design a life to connect and share with our loved ones.  

We are dedicated to strengthening individuals and empowering healthy relationships.

We are committed to helping you maintain your emotional health and offer support when times may be more challenging.  Regardless of your identity, many often experience being overwhelmed emotionally, which could have a drastic impact on your well-being. If you are trying to cope with stress of life alone, or are ignoring circumstances, and do not know how to overcome these challenges, then we are here to listen and offer resources that may be helpful.

People of Color face a number of systemic barriers and experiences of discrimination and bias that can increase their stress load, making mental wellness that much harder to reach.

To prevent this, it is important to destigmatize mental health so those experiencing emotional stress and offer resources where you feel are comfortable to explore on your own, or refer you to trusted Community partners. 

Here are some Multi-Cultural Mental Health Resources and more information on these topics that can be found in the links below:

• Arctic Winds Healing Winds:  Leadership for Results: Explains key takeaways from the Arctic Winds  Healing Winds nonprofit based in Alaska. The nonprofit emphasizes  enhancing and strengthening leadership capacity around story trauma.
• Circles of Care: Creating Models of Care for American Indian and Alaska Native Youth:  Describes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services  Administration's (SAMHSA's) grant program, Circles of Care, which  develops culturally appropriate interventions to serve youth with  serious behavioral health challenges.
• CultureCard: A Guide to Build Cultural Awareness: American Indian and Alaska Native: Addresses American Indian and Alaska Native history, culture, myths,  spirituality, Tribal sovereignty, and more. This brochure offers basic  information for service providers, and thus may be useful to pass on in  the early stages of treatment or if cultural competency requires  addressing in a therapeutic relationship.
• Publications and Resources on Tribal Affairs:  A list of resources and information created by the Substance Abuse and  Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) specific to indigenous  tribal populations. See also SAMHSA’s information on behavioral health  equity with this community.
• Rest for Resistance: a space for people of color in the LGBTQ community to find healing and support for their mental well-being.
• The Safe Place:  an app, available on both iOS and Google Play, which offers resources  about mental health in the Black community with the intention of  educating and raising awareness. These resources include statistics,  information on mental illnesses, self-care tips (including in  particularly stressful situations, such as in the aftermath of police  brutality), and podcasts like Extraordinary Negroes.
• I Gotchu: Mental Health, Your Friend, And You:  Recommendations from the Black Women’s Health Imperative on the best  ways to support someone close to you who is experiencing psychological  distress.
• Therapy for Black Girls: An online space where Black women and girls can access mental health resources that are relevant to their experiences without experiencing the stigma  that is often associated with these topics. Resources include virtual  therapy sessions, a directory of local Black women therapists, and a  podcast that explores topics like LGBTQ Affirmative Spaces in Black mental health
• Ourselves Black:  A collection of stories, images, and narratives that explore and  destigmatize the Black experience of mental health with the intention of  empowering the Black community. Topics include resources for parents of Black children with mental illness and an examination of the mental health struggles of Black college students.
• Racism and the Invisible Struggle of Mental Health in the Black Community:  An article that explores the roles racism and a history of oppression  play in the prevalence and stigmatization of mental illness within the  Black community.
• #YouGoodMan: An article and social media hashtag with the intention of promoting openness about the mental health struggles Black men and boys face.
• Rest for Resistance: a space for people of color in the LGBTQ community to find healing and support for their mental well-being.
• Latinx Parenting a bilingual organization rooted in children's rights, social and racial  justice and antiracism, the individual and collective practice of  nonviolence and reparenting, intergenerational and ancestral healing,  cultural sustenance, and the active decolonization of oppressive  practices in our families. We offer family education and support  that is culturally responsive to and for the Latinx community and its  allies, trauma-informed, and centered on strengths and advocacy.
• Latino Mental Health: Finding The Right Provider For You:  A resource that provides guides for finding mental health professionals  with sufficient cultural competency to provide you with effective care.  Information includes questions to ask a prospective therapist to  determine their ability to provide treatment that is culturally nuanced  and aware.
• Supporting Someone Close to You:  Due to some of the issues outlined above, many AAPIs are hesitant to  seek out professional help and so turn to their personal networks for  support. This site offers assistance for those who are looking to aid an  individual close to them.
• Latino Mental Health Program:  A special program for people from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin  Americathat covers the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work,  and family therapy. Established by the Cambridge Health Alliance, it  offers bilingual services from their office in Cambridge and may be  available for referrals to other providers.
• Arbour Health System’s Latino Mental Health Services:  Arbour Health System’s Latino mental health services in Lawrence, Mass.  offer intensive, short-term treatment for Latino adults with  psychiatric or co-occurring psychiatric and addiction disorders.  Psychotherapy and psychoeducation groups are all conducted in Spanish,  and the program is staffed by bilingual and bicultural clinicians and  doctors who can address cultural and societal issues within the context  of treatment.
• Rest for Resistance: a space for people of color in the LGBTQ community to find healing and support for their mental well-being.
•  Mental Health Among Asian-Americans: An overview of the mental health issues that impact AAPIs, produced by the American Psychological Association
• Asian-American Women’s Health Initiative Project:  This site contains information on Boston University’s Asian Women’s  Actions for Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE), a research project that  analyzes the mental health issues impact Asian-American women, including  mental illness, intimate partner violence and specific issues for those  in the LGBTQ+ community. Also contains information on services and  resources in the Boston- and Lowell-areas that are specifically design  for AAPI individuals
• Asian Mental Health Program:  A special program for people from Asia and the Indian sub-continent  that covers the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work, and  family therapy. Established by the Cambridge Health Alliance, it is run  out of their Somerville office and may be available for referrals to  other providers.
• An Asian American’s Language of Mental Health:  Empowerment and Understanding through Conversation: An examination of  one Vietnamese-American woman’s struggle to describe her mental health  struggles to her immigrant mother. Examines the barriers between  children and their parents created by language and the stigma around  mental health and the empowerment that can come with being able to have  open conversations with those closest to you. Provides translations for  common mental health terms into Vietnamese and Korean.
• Fix My Children: Working With Strong-Minded Asian Parents:  An examination of common struggles encountered when working with AAPI  families when a child presents with psychological distress. While the  article is directed towards counselors, it provides helpful tops and  context for navigating this unique relationship, including how parents  can misconstrue some behaviors and symptoms as disrespect and how to  avoid this.
• Rest for Resistance: a space for people of color in the LGBTQ community to find healing and support for their mental well-being.

The information presented here also does not capture the experiences or  viewpoints of every member of a particular group and should not be used  as all-encompassing descriptions or stereotypes. For instance, this should not be taken to generalize or mean that "all" and that is not even "most," members of that community have different perceptions of mental health, nor should it be considered "facts" that most dominant narratives of mental health ignore the cultural knowledge and understandings of diverse cultures or marginalized groups. 

Finally, the information and resources presented  here are not intended to replace mental health treatment. If you are  experiencing distress, please contact your healthcare provider, or a relevant community service agency.

We can all benefit from stretching daily.  When you are able to take a few moments to focus on your breathing, feeling Present, and allow yourself to be grounded, this can reduce stress, reset your mind and allow you to be more active in your life.

We offer Community Yoga and Pilates at some of our events and can connect you with Community partners to learn how to incorporate this into your everyday life. 

If you love music, aerobics, dance, kickboxing and just having fun, then Zumba is going to be a great experience.  You don't have to know how to do any of the techniques, and there are all skill levels to enjoy with others in our community.  We offer Zumba at many of our Community events and can also connect you with Community partners.  When you incorporate this into your routine, you can do it as often as you have time.  We encourage you to try it out, come often and invite others to join you too!  We look forward to seeing you soon.

Everyone is welcome to celebrate the Seasons, connection to the places we live and the share traditions from all cultures within our Community.  We host events that honor traditions to bring us closer together.  We collaborate with our Community and during public events, we encourage you to dance and celebrate these moments with us.

In order to have Peace, we must understand the world we live in and how to overcome potential challenges we may face.  Every quarter, we will host a Community Self-Defense course and we can connect you with community partners to continue this training if you would like to expand your learning.  We encourage everyone of all ages and backgrounds to participate.

We are guests on California Indigenous land and support the individual Sovereign Nations that we are in community with, as well as our Indigenous relatives across Turtle Island and worldwide, and collaborate with individuals to share valuable traditional skills.  When we invite you into these spaces, it is a long-term commitment to each other, to our Community and Mother Earth, to be in reciprocity.  It is important to learn about our land, how to be trusted land stewards, water protectors, to identify medicine and learn survival skills to overcome and adapt to the impacts we are experiencing as a result of Climate Change. 

We are glad that you are interested in our programs and welcome feedback and suggestions to improve what we offer.  Let us know if you would like additional resources, or if you would like to collaborate with us at one of our upcoming Community events, etc.  We look forward to hearing from you soon.