There is a movement of energy in, through and around each of us. Meditation can be an incredible tool to help us respond to these energies. People who enter into professions such as child welfare tend to be sensitive and empathetic, and are naturally more impacted by the energy of others. Finding ways to address these energies and messages can be profoundly helpful. This initial episode of The Practice Space offers an introduction to the meditation skills that can help us to build resistance and better sustain ourselves in practice.

Episode 1: Creating Space In and for Ourselves in Practice: An Introduction

In this episode of The Practice Space, learn about ways to navigate the intense energies associated with trauma that you may be exposed to in your work. Gently clearing your own energy space helps to create spaciousness for others while allowing them to find their own resilience. This episode shows us how to redirect energy and to be compassionate in a more holistic way.

Episode 2: Removing Clutter: Clearing and Grounding through meditation practices

In this episode of The Practice Space, learn about ways to retain your neutrality and openness as you navigate challenging energies and intense emotional situations. Hear about some simple daily habits that you can use to ground yourself to be present and encounter each unique situation as it is, not as you might imagine or prefer it to be. 


Episode 3: Finding the Well: Replenishing Ourselves Through Practice

In this episode of The Practice Space, learn about the importance of developing skills to guide human interactions, especially in practice settings that may be uniquely challenging. Some professional arenas can include chronic stress for workers (such as with child welfare and palliative care), and we can also experience isolation and difficulty talking about our experiences with others. Caring for yourself includes cultivating human connections where you can talk about and deal with tough and complex issues, together.

Episode 4: Rocks and Hard Places: Developing skills for sustaining ourselves in practice

Cindy Blackstock on Long-Term First Nation Child Welfare Reform Draft Settlement - Warrior Life Podcast

Welcome back to the Warrior Life Podcast! We are running special podcasts for the month of September in advance of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept.30, 2024.

In today's episode, we hear from Dr. Cindy Blackstock who had previously joined me on a YouTube LIVE event to help answer our questions about the draft settlement for long-term reform on child welfare for First Nations.

YouTube video version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtlX6Cv2unc&t=9s

You can find a full copy of the draft agreement on the AFN website:
https://afn.bynder.com/m/5b1f4b4db156231/original/FINAL-AGREEMENT-ON-LONG-TERM-REFORM-OF-THE-FIRST-NATIONS-CHILD-AND-FAMILY-SERVICES-PROGRAM.pdf

Dr. Cindy Blackstock is the head of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society: https://fncaringsociety.com

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Hi! I'm Dr. Pam Palmater, an Indigenous lawyer, professor, author, and producer. I create educational videos, podcasts, blogs, and other content about Indigenous issues. My production company is Warrior Life Studios Inc.

Warrior Life Studios Inc.
https://www.warriorlifestudios.com

I am a citizen of the Mi’kmaw Nation and a member of Eel River Bar First Nation from Mi’kma’ki (Mi’kmaw territory in New Brunswick, Canada).

I am the producer and host of the Warrior Life Podcast which helps lift the voices of Indigenous leaders, advocates, land defenders, water protectors, actors, artists and even chefs! 
https://www.warriorlifepodcast.com

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FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER  
https://www.twitter.com/Pam_Palmater

FOLLOW ME ON IG 
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FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK  
https://www.tiktok.com/@pampalmater

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK 
https://www.facebook.com/pam.palmater

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Please note: Nothing in this podcast/video advocates for violence on Indigenous territories.

Please also note: The information contained in this podcast/video/stream should not be misconstrued as legal, financial, medical and/or personal advice; nor should it be relied on as such. These podcasts/videos/streams are for educational purposes and represent fair political comment. Any pictures, audio clips and/or video clips that do not belong to me or from the public domain, remain the copyright of the owners and are only used here for educational purposes.

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If you would like more information about these issues, you can check out my website at:
https://www.pampalmater.com

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MY BOOKS:

BESTSELLER - Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence by Fernwood Publishing
https://www.amzn.to/3lAleUk

Indigenous Nationhood by Fernwood Publishing
https://www.amzn.to/3R5iZqu

Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity
https://www.amzn.to/3xN1jcl

NEW WARRIOR LIFE PODCAST MERCH:
https://www.teespring.com/stores/warrior-life-2

A portion of these proceeds go to support Indigenous land defenders, water protectors and grassroots Indigenous women's groups.

#indigenous
#childwelfare
#cindyblackstock

Permission to use photo from Cindy Blackstock.

Cindy Blackstock on Long-Term First Nation Child Welfare Reform Draft Settlement

Don't panic, collaborate! You’ll hear about this advice and more in episode one of this three-part series focused on considerations for child welfare and county workers who encounter families who are navigating the asylum process, are currently undocumented, or have mixed documentation status within the family. In this episode, you'll learn about local changes occurring in Minnesota by exploring a collaboration that occurred in 2023 in Hennepin County. You'll hear from school and county staff who faced the challenges of change by collaborating across sectors, learning from neighboring districts, and keeping their focus on relationships.

Episode 1: Working With Undocumented & Asylum-Seeking Families: Collaboration in Minnesota

Asylum is complex and can take a long time. Episode two of this three-part series does a deeper dive into the process of asylum in the United States. Hear about the different types of asylum, the requirements, and the challenges of legally acquiring status, as well as the avenues of support that are available for families. You'll hear from immigration attorney Sarah Brenes (Binger Center for New Americans, University of Minnesota Law School) about how the complexities of the asylum process can impact asylum-seeking families, the history of and recent changes to these processes, and what this means for child welfare professionals who work with these families.

Episode 2: Working With Undocumented & Asylum-Seeking Families: Understanding Asylum

Seeking asylum is an act of resilience and protection. This final episode of the three-part series focuses on the implications for direct practice social work with families who are seeking or navigating asylum. Amy Smith, Clinical Faculty and Director of Social Work Services at the Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services at the University of St. Thomas and Liz Franklin, Director of Behavioral Health at Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio (CLUES), discuss how to join with families as a social worker, considerations for establishing and sustaining trust, contextualizing care, navigating benefits eligibility, and sustaining yourself as a social work practitioner.

Episode 3: Working With Undocumented & Asylum-Seeking Families: Considerations for Practice

A Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker Dr. Brandinicole Brooks-Harris has twenty years of experience in child welfare and mental health. She develops leaders by aligning clinical social work with effective leadership skills. She is also a certified perinatal mental health specialist and full spectrum doula and the Founder and Executive Director of Sleep Sweet Junebug, Inc., a nonprofit focused on providing mental health and doula support to families experiencing pregnancy and infant loss. Her first book, Black Single Mothers and the Child Welfare System: A Guide for Social Workers on Addressing Oppression, was published in 2013
She has engaged in discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion with focus on the experiences of Black women and LGBTQIA+ individuals. 
Her second book, Claiming Fire: Leadership, Identity, and Becoming as a Black Lesbian, is a self-published memoir of her own journey of becoming a Black Lesbian Leader based on her dissertation.  It is available to preorder now and everywhere in in 2026.


Dr. Brandynicole Brooks-Harris: Claiming Fire

“Case Plan Lies” is a chapter in the Years Without Help concept album, focusing on the quiet failures that occur within child welfare systems — when paperwork indicates “safe” while a child lives in danger.
This track isn’t about shock value. It’s about the slow, invisible harm: missed signs, unchecked homes, and kids learning silence as survival.

Alt-R&B with lo-fi trap drums and spoken-word confession, told from the inside of a file that never protected the person it described.

Content note: explicit language + heavy themes (child abuse, neglect, systemic failure, trauma aftermath).

Real-world context/example: https://www.kqed.org/news/12000933/officials-failed-to-protect-east-bay-baby-who-died-after-alleged-abuse-lawsuit-claims

Case Plan Lies

🎙️ Independent storyteller | 🇺🇸🇲🇽 | Voice through survival
I use AI-assisted tools to co-create some of my music and visuals, but every lyric, edit, and emotional heartbeat is mine.

All songs are legally licensed for commercial release. I rewrite, restructure, and remix every line until it reflects real life — mine, and maybe yours too.

This fundraiser supports a long-term mission:
• finishing my next album
• building a multi-year survival album series around real themes happening now
• creating music videos/AI visuals to bring these stories to life
• and producing beginner-friendly courses that help people grow with today’s tech and AI.

I’m not doing this for profit. I’m doing it to help people carry their trauma a little lighter.
If it helps even one person feel less alone in their frustration, grief, or journey… then it was worth creating.

🧠 Music built from survival.
🫀 Songs crafted with truth.
🎥 Visuals to make the stories real.
🤖 Powered by technology. Driven by heart.

Author, Public Speaker, Radio Host of Collections by Michelle Brown Blog Radio

Join award-winning host Pam Palmater, Mi’kmaw lawyer, author & activist, as she shares the stories of Indigenous warriors and activists on the front lines of protecting Indigenous lands, peoples, and cultures.

The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) is committed to connecting child welfare professionals to relevant and accessible training resources. We are excited to bring you the latest in research, policy, and practice via podcasts. This channel will cover a wide range of topics and will feature interviews with researchers, policy makers, frontline child welfare workers, community members, and many others. If you would like a transcript of any of our podcasts, please visit our website podcast page: https://cascw.umn.edu/podcasts/.

New tracks tagged #Child welfare