Aspiremn

12/16/2025

https://mailchi.mp/aspiremn/qpi-mn-featured-on-mpr Jessica Gunnarson, QPI-MN Champion, recognized for building connections between foster and birth families

QPI-MN welcomes everyone to join us, whether you are an individual, community-based organization or county system. We value working relationships which recognize and respect the diverse perspectives of system partners and prioritize leadership of persons with lived experience. Learn more about QPI-M...

12/03/2025

Register for the 2026 Leadership Intro Sessions - Wed. Dec 10th -

Are you ready to deepen your leadership skills and connect with peers across Minnesota’s children, youth, and family service continuum? We invite you to be part of the 2026 AspireMN Leadership Academy Cohort—a year-long learning journey designed just for AspireMN members.

11/11/2025

Register for the 2026 Leadership Intro Sessions: Wed. Nov 12th & Wed. Dec 10th -

Are you ready to deepen your leadership skills and connect with peers across Minnesota’s children, youth, and family service continuum? We invite you to be part of the 2026 AspireMN Leadership Certificate Cohort—a year-long learning journey designed just for AspireMN members.

11/05/2025

2026 AspireMN Leadership Certificate Cohort
Now inviting AspireMN members to join the 2026 Leadership Cohort!

Are you ready to deepen your leadership skills and connect with peers across Minnesota’s children, youth, and family service continuum? We invite you to be part of the 2026 AspireMN Leadership Certificate Cohort—a year-long learning journey designed just for AspireMN members.

10/17/2025

Don't forget to register by Monday for the Innovation Summit. We're so excited that Dessa will be joining us as the keynote speaker.

Dessa fell in love with language as a toddler- and she just never got over it. Coming up in Minneapolis, she collected favorite words to decorate the walls of her brain; as teenager, she thrilled in metaphor; and when she started writing songs and touring, she'd always lean in to pick up on the regional slang. Now, Dessa works in most fields that traffic in words: she's recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; contributed to the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that's notched more than 4 million views; hosted two seasons of the Deeply Human radio program (BBC/American Public Media/iHeartMedia); and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices, published by Dutton (Penguin Random House). She lives in Minneapolis and Manhattan, still tours in a rented van, and is probably eavesdropping on the neighboring table, listening for a word to add to the collection. You can listen to her music, read her writing, and check out the tour schedule at dessawander.com or find her on Instagram as Dessa, and on Facebook and Twitter as dessadarling.

Click the link below to register.
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025

10/15/2025

We are excited to announce we have extended the registration for the Innovation Summit so if you haven’t registered yet please join us!
Registration will remain open until October 20th! We hope to see you there!

Click the link below to register!

https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025

10/12/2025

Effective strategic planning for a nonprofit begins with clarity on the organization's mission, vision, and values. Whether the goal is growth or long-term sustainability, the process requires time and commitment. It's also important to define clear metrics that track progress and impact. A strong strategic plan should be supported by an annual operating plan that outlines actionable steps. At this session, you will learn about a process for conducting strategic planning, go through exercises that will help spark thinking for your own planning, and learn first-hand from Relate who recently completed their strategic planning process.

Joan Twiton has spent most of her career in healthcare management. Prior to her current role as Executive Director of Relate Counseling Center, she served as the CEO of a federally qualified health center (FQHC). In her leadership roles, Joan recognizes the importance of intentional, forward-looking planning to guide informed decision-making.

Katie Ladas is a marketing, fundraising and business strategy consultant who has worked in a range of environments from corporate to small business, small and large nonprofits, and higher education. Katie’s energy comes from understanding the landscape, digging into the goals and visions, and mapping out value-driven actions for taking organizations to the next level.

Click the link in bio to register!

10/11/2025

This 75-minute interactive session explores how relational intention enhances leadership across child welfare and mental health systems. Participants will engage in grounding practices and examine how relational leadership principles—such as centering, emotional responsiveness, and boundary clarity—can strengthen outcomes and partnerships. Through case vignettes, reflective exercises, and practical tools, attendees will identify growth areas in their own leadership practice and leave equipped with strategies to lead from the body, foster healing relationships, and drive sustainable system change.

Kate Rickord, MA, LP, SEP is a Master’s Level Licensed Psychologist, specializing in trauma, parenting, and somatic experiencing. Kate serves as the Director of Quality Parenting Initiative-Minnesota. She played a key role in bringing the national advocacy strategy to Minnesota in 2017. Additionally, Kate serves as the Quality Parenting Outreach (QPO) Lead at the Youth Law Center in California. Kate is committed to supporting transformation across personal healing, family dynamics, organizational structures, and policy shifts. Her work with QPI fosters diversity in perspective, helping to reimagine the child welfare system through collaboration with youth, families, professionals, and communities. By bringing together diverse voices, she helps shape more inclusive and effective approaches to parenting. Kate holds a Master of Arts in Counseling and Psychological Services from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Trauma Studies from the University of Minnesota. Kate is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) and a board-approved supervisor for the Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy. She is the Co-Director of the Resiliency & Health Institute. In September 2025, Kate received the "

Click the link below to register!
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025

10/11/2025

When a crisis occurs an effective response is needed immediately. There will not be time to train in the needed skills. The ability to plan will be impaired even for the most effective leaders. You and your colleagues will rely on the plan you prepared and the skills you learned in advance. Critical Incident Stress Management is a continuum of interventions designed to mitigate the negative impact of post-traumatic stress. The workshop will introduce the key concepts of effective crisis response. It will also describe the skills taught and practiced in a 3-day course to future members of the Aspire Crisis Response Team.

Dr. Grace serves as a consultant with Northwood Children's Services. He's had a 54-year career in Children's Mental Health. Along the way he picked up a doctorate, but most of what he learned came from the shared wisdom of colleagues and former students.

Click the link below to register!
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025

10/11/2025

This presentation will explore the intersection of neurodivergence and race to help participants better understand disparities, oppression, and discrimination in our healthcare systems. Presented from the lens of the social model of disability, participants will learn how to be anti-oppressive in the mental health field through using inclusive language and expectations, increasing accessibility, and dispelling common myths and misunderstandings about autism and ADHD and how traits may be misconstrued in people of color.

Jade Miles is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and is an Outpatient Therapist and the BIPOC Specialist through Fernbrook Family Center. Jade provides services to children, adolescents, adults, and families. Jade is a trauma-informed therapist and offers somatic and emotion focused approaches. Jade believes in a person-centered approach placing a great deal of importance on the therapeutic relationship.
Jade has worked in the mental health field for over 6 years in a variety of settings. Over the past 2 years, Jade has prioritized care for marginalized groups and worked to grow her competence in providing care for people of color. Jade works with individuals who have a variety of concerns including, but not limited to; trauma, anxiety, chronic illness, depression, relationship issues, and abuse. Jade believes clients know themselves best and she works to assist clients reach their goals to live the life they want to achieve.

Jessica Mertins, LICSW, has a masters of social work from the University of St. Thomas/Saint Catherine University and is currently an outpatient therapist, licensure supervisor, and Neurodiversity Specialist at Fernbrook Family Center in Rochester, MN. She trains from a perspective that blends her lived experience as a neurodivergent person, her professional experience, and her research and learning from other lived-experience educators.

Click the link below to register
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025

10/10/2025

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY! Registration for the Aspire MN 2025 Innovation Summit closes TODAY! This conference will equip new tools to help you become the leader you are called to be.
Click the link below and register today.
https://www.eventcreate.com/e/innovation2025