Nurtured Heart Approach
What is the Nurtured Heart Approach?
The Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) is a relationship-based model that consists of 3 Stands™: Absolute No, Absolute Yes, and Absolute Clarity. The approach aims to build Inner Wealth ™ and resiliency by teaching how to:
- Emphasize an individual’s agency to choose to give less energy and relationship to negative emotions, thought patterns, and circumstances, while
- Investing more energy and relationship into their own strengths and success and the strengths and success of others. The third stand of
- Encouraging reflection and communication around perceptions, expectations and limits.
As a result, the Nurtured Heart Approach empowers children and adults to direct their emotional and intellectual intensity towards achievement and self-actualization.
Visit the Children’s Success Foundation’s website to learn more about the parent organization that maintains and advances the work of the Nurtured Heart Approach
About the CYFD-BHS Nurtured Heart Approach Project:
In 2018 Children Youth and Families Department Behavioral Health Services was awarded a New Mexico State Opioid Response Grant to expand the implementation of the Nurtured Heart Approach within the child welfare and behavioral health system with the goal of improving workforce development and preventative services.
Through the gran CYFD-BHS began growing its application of the Nurtured Heart Approach lens internally and within the behavioral health community. The vision of the project is to encourage a paradigm shift within child welfare that results in prioritizing relationships over reacting to deficits.
Information for the NHA Community in New Mexico
The NHA community in New Mexico consists of parents, caregivers, and professionals who have received training in the approach and are applying it with themselves, coworkers, clients, friends, and family.
Visit our NHA Trainings Page for a detailed description of current trainings and support activities. You can also access training materials here.
- Introduction to the Nurtured Heart Approach
- Exploring the Nurtured Heart Approach Online Course
- NHA Certification Training Intensive
- Certified Trainer Support Sessions
- NHA Coffee Hour
Certification & Endorsement
To maintain the integrity of the approach, NHA training facilitators are required to become certified in the approach by completing a 40-hour certification training. Certified Trainers can achieve Advanced Trainer status by attending the 40-hour certification a second time and acting as a small group facilitator
Current Providers
The following agencies have staff trained in the Nurtured Heart Approach and offer training to the community:
New Day Youth and Family Services, Albuquerque, NM
All Faiths Children’s Advocacy Center, Albuquerque, NM
Mental Health Resources, Clovis, NM
Evaluation and Fidelity Monitoring
The Nurtured Heart Approach is a promising practice with a growing body of research supporting its effectiveness. CYFD-BHS and The Children’s Success Foundation are currently developing a survey tool to assist in measuring changes in Inner Wealth. Click the button below to access tools for the evaluation of NHA implementation.