PHOENIX — Every year, hundreds of young people in Arizona age out of foster care, leaving many homeless.
ABC15 heard from Sommer Knight and Elena Reed Steinbeis, who lead the Valley non-profit Foster360.
"Our youth, we're finding that 85% of them have had a brain injury due to domestic violence, and no one's looking at it," Knight explained.
She says Foster360 not only provides safe housing for those who qualify, but the organization also works to help these young people find deep emotional healing thanks to unique partnerships, including one with Barrow Neurological Institute. Knight says this is one way to offer trauma coaching and therapies for brain injuries.
“We have to empower them. We can't do everything for them. So, that's a huge part of what we do — really helping them through the trauma coaching, working with Barrow for the brain injury therapies," Steinbeis added.
Foster360 is also partnering with RISE Modern Wellness in Chandler, which offers a comprehensive approach to healing and self-care. The health and wellness center is led by Kenton McGuire, who talked about their role in helping people cope with their traumas.
"We help a lot of people out with daily stressors, and we have so many services that can help them out with that, but especially those dealing with trauma. We have a few services here, things like sound therapy, which gets your brainwave in a certain pattern to go from a stressful environment to a relaxed state," McGuire explained.
Another one of the services they use for healing is whole-body cryotherapy.
"It's an intense cold and it's a couple minutes of intense stress. On the other side of that is a boost of dopamine and a kind of relaxation. So, and this isn't opinion-based or like 'Hey, this might help with that.' It's facts, it's science, and we've seen it time and time again," McGuire added.
For Jayden, who was homeless before he discovered Foster360, therapies like these have become a lifeline of hope.
Jayden says it was hard to do some of these modalities at first, saying, "I'm not much of an open person, but Foster360 is like, 'We'll work through those obstacles. We'll make sure you're capable.' And they make you feel loved and not isolated or alone so that you know you have the support that you need."
Jayden, who is 21 years old, is set to graduate from college this year with mostly As and Bs. He tells us he has big dreams of starting his own non-profit to help kids like him stay off the streets and reach for the stars! He credits his relationship with Knight and Steinbeis for his remarkable transformation.
"Foster 360 made me feel loved and supported. They’re always there for me!” said Jayden.
On Friday, April 4, RISE Modern Wellness will donate half of all proceeds to Foster360.
For more information, visit their website:
RISE Modern Wellness
7131 W Ray Rd, Chandler, AZ 85226
(602) 848-2441
risemodernwellness.com
Foster 360
137 East University Drive, Mesa, AZ 85201
(480) 870-8902
www.foster360.org
