Foster youth tend to make up stories about themselves based on how parents, teachers, and others have treated them in the past. These beliefs get hardwired into the brain and they end up believing them as if they are absolute truths rather than ideas that were put into their mind. Youth then end up organizing their sense of self-worth and experiences around these beliefs so that they become the filter through which they see themselves, react to situations, and interact with others.

This workshop is designed to show how after a childhood of abuse, neglect, loss, grief, trauma, stress and anxiety, anger and resentment, struggle, pain and poverty, tears, heartbreaks, self destructive thoughts and behaviors, young people aging out of foster care can begin let go of all that, find their voice, and step into their own power to get what they want from life. Dr. Stacey Patton talks with youth about changing the stories they tell about themselves, how to stop repeating the same old stories so they can become their best self.

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