Executive Director Breaks Down How CYM Impacts with Love

02/09/2021

A “Love Note” from CYM’s Leader:

Some of you may have heard the phrase before, “we can’t love others until we learn to love ourselves.”  Since February is the month for Valentine’s Love it is appropriate to share some thoughts about this topic and describe some practical ways that City Youth Matrix is weaving values of love into our daily programming!

If we are to love others we need to love and appreciate who we are as individuals.  Despite our imperfections, weaknesses, and circumstances, we need to establish ground rules and language for how we perceive ourselves as we journey through each day. Strategies such as physical exercise, spending time with family and close friends, and participating in hobbies are wonderful beginnings to lay a foundation for love to be cultivated.  Another proven approach is to nurture our mental fitness through mindfulness strategies and developing mindfulness language with ourselves. This is a process that researchers and medical experts have found to heal our brain from traumatic experiences and other mental health concerns, perhaps some that have been precipitated by the pandemic. 

CYM has partnered with Jamie Eaton Counseling and Second Street & Hope to offer an emotional skills four-week class to our children and their parent partners.  Five families are immersed in what is called E-Fit, that includes a weekly video, family practice, and a live Zoom meeting with the group.  Some specific love language strategies that are being discussed are: awareness, breathing, distancing, and discovering your zone or tool box.  

These are proven strategies that our partners are using in their lessons to present a proactive and light approach for self-management and skill building. The earlier our youth can learn and normalize these strategies and personal love languages, the more healthy they will become. During the month of February we are delighted to watch our CYM families growing and learning how to love themselves and in-turn, each other immeasurably more than they could have ever imagined. What a beautiful example of seeing our children and families reach their full love potential in life! 

Let’s Continue to Impact With Love,

Aaron Vetter

Executive Director, City Youth Matrix