Introducing from Bellis…
Stronger Together Peer Support Model™ Facilitator Training Program

Since November 2022, our partnership at Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee has been a success. We aim to replicate this model at correctional facilities across the country.

With support from the University of Minnesota Medical School and a grant from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Bellis is studying the impact of our programming on the mental health of incarcerated women.

What Participants Are Saying:

“This group has helped me in my healing process and realizing that I am not alone.”

“The facilitator made this a safe space, she is so respectful and caring towards us and our experiences.”

“When I’m in this group, I’m not in prison.”

Results from Shakopee Participants:

• 100% of participants reported their experiences with Stronger Together as good or excellent

• 97% of participants reported that participation in Stronger Together helped them process their grief around not actively parenting

• 95% of participants reported that participation in Stronger Together helped them process their feelings around family relationships

Lori Timlin, Parenting Coordinator at MCF-Shakopee, explains:

“Many women identify the loss of their children as a trigger for drug use and criminal involvement. They have not had an opportunity to therapeutically address the guilt and shame. Those who participated are visibly lighter, having gained a sense of hope and greater control over their futures.”

Since April 2021, Bellis has offered expert-led, peer support groups both in-person and online for people whose children are parented by others.

What Participants Are Saying:

“I am learning how to ask for help and find healthy support. I am gaining confidence and self-worth. I have hope for a future.”

“Bellis is the only support group of this kind that I have found. When I lost rights to one of my children I almost didn't survive. Bellis give me a chance to empathize and get support from others who have similar experiences.”

“I thought I’d never have a space to freely talk about my grief related to my experiences with CPS and my son being parented by someone else. Being able to talk out loud with others who get it, instead of keeping my thoughts locked up inside is a release that I'm not quite sure how to put into words.”

“How on earth am I able to live mentally on this planet without the support of Bellis? That’s why I keep coming back. I need this group.”

“Every interaction I’ve had with Bellis has healed me in some way.”

Results from Community Participants:

• 95% satisfied with the program overall

• 95% feel better equipped to deal with stress

• 92% feel less alone

• 77% experience a decrease in feelings of shame

• 70% experience an increased sense of calm

Ann Gaasch, CEO, FamilyWise, explains:

“Having worked directly with families in the child welfare system for over thirty years, I have seen the intergenerational impacts for families when a parent’s rights are terminated. It is a loss like no other, compounded by the feelings of isolation, guilt and shame. The cost to the parent and to the children is immeasurable, and there is a corresponding cost to our community as a whole. I had been looking for a resource to support women in this situation for at least a decade, knowing that their grief experience is unique and that healing that trauma is complicated. Bellis is able to bring a unique skillset and expertise to this work. They have led groups that have transformed the lives of the women participating. Their model works.

Many people are talking about and working on transforming the child welfare system, and Bellis is actually doing it.”