While 1 in 5 people will experience a mental illness during their lifetime, everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health. The good news is there are practical tools that everyone can use to improve their mental health and increase resiliency - and there are ways that everyone can be supportive of friends, family, and co-workers who are struggling with life's challenges or their mental health.…
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Before they get to the Ranch, our kids have experienced so much trauma and pain. In many cases, they've been told they're out of options. Now, they have succeeded, and they have a place to go! They are joyful because they did the work, completed their treatment, and now have hope for a better future.…
Do you remember when your mom or Grandma would try out a new recipe and it was really wonderful? I remember how it felt. I didn't have all the words then, but I felt cared for and special and loved. I saw how hard my mom tried to make every part of my life as good as she could.…
Dakota Medical Foundation awarded $10,000 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to be used to offset expenses and/or losses created by the Coronavirus pandemic.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, Minot, ND, was the recipient of a $3,000 grant from Faith Community Lutheran Church in Longmont, CO. The funds received will be used as part of an overall transformation and update of the Kruse Memorial Chapel on our Minot, ND campus. Specifically, funds will be used to purchase new audio equipment for the chapel.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, Bismarck, ND, was the recipient of a $2,020 grant from the Department of Public Instruction. Funds received will be used as part of an overall transformation of the Nutrition Center on our Bismarck campus. Specifically, funds will be used to purchase another freezer, to meet the needs of the growing population, as well as provide additional healthy food choices for students.…
Every person we meet has lived a life only they can truly understand. Like the children at the Ranch, some of us can tell our stories, and some cannot. Each of us carries our experiences in our own way. And, when they are too heavy, God carries them for us.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch received $3,000 from Whole Kids Foundation and $500 from KidsGardening to support the Gardening Program on its campus in Bismarck, ND. Funds will be used to purchase materials to convert our three garden plots to large-scale sub-irrigated planter boxes.…
Like so many of our Ranch kids, there was a time when Emily certainly didn’t believe in herself. She did not realize her potential or the plan God had for her life. Yet today, Emily stands strong and resilient; capable and confident, a beautiful, genuine young woman…who surely has promise! Thank you for helping to make stories like Emily’s possible. You cheer our kids on with your prayers and support, believing in their POTENTIAL, helping precious children realize that they indeed have PROMISE, that their lives certainly have POSSIBILITIES and that the God who loves them, surely has a PLAN for their lives.…
We are all in uncharted territory. Kids are home from school, parents are working from home, and most of our usual activities are off-limits. While the specific stressors are unique to each individual, isolating at home creates strain and anxiety for everyone. The behavioral health providers at Dakota Family Services offer ten tips for maintaining the mental health of you and your family during this unusual time.…
In this time of trying to separate the truly important from the normally important, I want you to know we are focused on one thing, "to help at-risk children and their families succeed in the name of Christ." Right now, helping these kids succeed means making decisions that keep them and our staff as safe as possible. It means delivering programming and education that creates a semblance of normalcy and predictability in a time when the world is neither. It means praying and laughing with our kids, and listening to their fears. It means accepting children from other facilities that have shut their doors. It means relying on Him, when we are not enough. He will give us the strength.…
Almost overnight, COVID-19 has radically changed life as we know it...across the nation, worldwide, and now here at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. But one thing that hasn't changed: the need for a very special place where vulnerable children can find healing, hope, and shelter from the storms of life.…
We are in uncharted territory. Although we are likely to start sentences with "it's like of like" or "I remember when," the reality is that the COVID-19/Coronovirus pandemic is a new reality for the entire world. Here at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, we, like everyone else, are navigating one day, and sometimes one minute, at a time.…
At a meeting I recently attended, a young minister told a story about his honeymoon. He and his wife wanted to do something really special to mark the start of their new life together. They were honeymooning in New England and decided that climbing a mountain nearby would fit the bill.…
Thrivent, a nonprofit financial services organization for Christians, has a longstanding commitment to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. For years, the Ranch has been an enrolled charity in Thrivent Choice®, a program that allows eligible members to recommend where Thrivent should donate portions of its charitable outreach funds each year.…
The education our kids receive at Dakota Memorial School is an integral part of the services we offer, both to our kids in the residential program, as well as to our Day Students from the surrounding communities. The teachers who come to work each day to provide an education for our students are some of the most special people. We wanted to give them a space to share stories of their experiences in the classroom, so we are excited to present to you: Teacher's Corner.…
Barry Backman has worked at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch for over 18 years. He is a Youth Care Worker Team Lead, and works, along with his team, directly with the kids. As parents, most of us need to live through about seven teenage years. Barry has stood by at-risk teens for 18+ years, helping them discover their best selves.…
Children’s brains are little learning machines. They learn from what we say and do, and what we don’t say and do. We must be intentional about what we teach.…
Sometimes I am astounded by how we continue the work of the Ranch in spite of obstacles put in our way. In the last week, the basement of one of our thrift stores flooded. Then, someone cut the catalytic converters out of the thrift store trucks we use to pick up donations. At the same time, we are implementing new federal legislation affecting children's residential services. And to top it all off, we have some major plumbing issues with our main building, our oldest building, on the Minot campus.…
The education our kids receive at Dakota Memorial School is an integral part of the services we offer, both to our kids in the residential program, as well as to our Day Students from the surrounding communities. The paraprofessionals (paras) in our schools are a critical component to the provision of exceptional special education services and support. They are an important aspect of the Trauma Learning Culture at Dakota Memorial School (DMS), as they model a positive and encouraging attitude. At DMS, paras help students learn academic and social skills, encourage positive behavior, and provide one-on-one instructional assistance to students under the supervision of a qualified teacher.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch is a Christian residential treatment and educational center for children and their families. We help the most troubled, complicated, and amazing kids by providing best-in-class psychiatric therapy and trauma-informed care, where we look kids in the eye, walk with them, and help them become their best selves.…
Minnesota Power granted $1,500 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to purchase LED lightbulbs for its Bismarck campus. The grant will help the Ranch convert the interior fluorescent ceiling lights to energy savings LEDs.…
The education our kids receive at Dakota Memorial School is an integral part of the services we offer, both to our kids in the residential program, as well as to our Day Students from the surrounding communities. The teachers who come to work each day to provide an education for our students are some of the most special people. We wanted to give them a space to share stories of their experiences in the classroom, so we are excited to present to you: Teacher's Corner.…
When I heard that the theme for this year's Giving Hearts Day was "Count Me," it resonated loudly! Isn't that what we all want? To know we are seen. To know we are valued. To know we "count." That is why all of us at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch hold ourselves to a standard of the true presence. The children we serve through our residential and therapeutic programs, and in our schools, are often society's "unseen." They have been abused, neglected, traumatized, labeled, and misunderstood. At the Ranch, we are present to them, with exceptional, practiced, compassionate expertise. We see them, walk with them, and count them.…
St. Joseph's Community Health Foundation (SJCHF) distributed $15,535 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to underwrite the costs of updating two Refocus Rooms in Dakota Memorial School, Minot—the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Through the SJCHF's Twice Blessed program, we were able to raise $10,535 in addition to the SJCHF match grant of $5,000 to underwrite the entire project.…