OUR MISSION

Our mission is to initiate healing through self-awareness and self-care to empower individuals to be productive contributors to their families and the communities in which they live.

ABOUT US

We are an organization committed to initiating healing, from a holistic perspective, to address trauma and other adverse experiences that prohibit individual resiliency. The healing is initiated by engaging a number of interventions to explore self-awareness, the family, and the communities where our clients reside.

Wearing the Urban Family Initiative C.A.P.P.

Our commitment to serve at Urban Family Initiative is guided by four principals. We use the acronym C.A.P.P.

C. = Compassion – our concern for suffering and misfortune of others.
A. = Accountability – our expectation of justifying actions and decisions.
P. = Professionalism – our key to quality and efficiency.
P. = Purpose – our reason why something is done, created, or exists.

Meet Our Founder

James W. Dix, III, Ph.D. is the Founder and Executive Director of Urban Family Initiative, LLC.

Dr. Dix brings more than 20 years of experience in health care, addressing individual performance gaps and overall human performance systems. Dr. Dix has been advanced trained in mind-body healing through The Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington, DC. The training has been instrumental in helping individuals improve their self-concept and overall personal resiliency. He has previously served in leadership roles in Northwest and Central Indiana, where he enhanced human and organizational performance in various healthcare arenas. Dr. Dix has also served as an adjunct professor in the Schools of Business at, both, Indiana University and Indiana Wesleyan Universities. He earned his Doctorate in Education from Capella University and his masters and bachelor degrees from Indiana University Northwest. Dr. Dix is a highly regarded expert and sought out speaker in the areas of human performance technology and self-awareness development.

Email James Dix

Our Model

At Urban Family Initiative, LLC we believe that childhood experiences play a very critical role in the health, well-being, and performance of individuals. To address these experiences, we believe there is value in initiating self-awareness exploration and implementing sustainable self-care.

Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. As such, early experiences are an important public health issue. Much of the foundational research in this area has been referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Adverse Childhood Experiences have been linked to:

risky health behaviors
chronic health conditions
low life potential
early death

As the number of ACEs increases, so does the risk for these outcomes.

CDC, 2016

HOW WE WORK

Initiating a foundation of self-awareness

The challenges people face in life are sometimes a result of not having a clear understanding of their family’s history. In order to give their life meaning, they must first initiate a foundation of self-awareness that will add value and clarity, allowing them to break ineffective cycles of family behavior.

Dr. James Dix, III

How Urban Family Initiative works

Prior to services being rendered, each care professional conducts a needs assessment to identify specific performance gaps that prohibit desired outcomes. Once the performance gap(s) have been identified, the care professional and client develop a collaborative plan that is evaluated on a regular basis. The evaluation is conducted to ensure self-awareness is being enhanced and collaborative goals/objectives are being met.

Who we serve

FAMILIES

Many of the families we serve at Urban Family Initiative are involved with Indiana state or county agencies. Our care professionals are adequately trained to address the needs of our clients in a professional, but caring manner. We pride ourselves in empowering clients to make decisions that will be in the best interest of themselves, their families, and the communities in which they live.

CARE PROFESSIONALS

Urban Family Initiative recognizes there is a certain level of stress and burnout associated with engaging in emotionally charged work environments. As a result, we offer emotional intelligence (particularly self-awareness) training to care professionals to address challenges faced in the workplace. Research has shown that care professionals experience a risk of encountering impacts of stress due to the nature of the work performed. The responsibility of addressing the social and emotional needs of families has the potential to create an unhealthy workplace. These factors contribute to increased absenteeism, physical illnesses, emotional problems, poor job performance, and negative attitudes. Urban Family Initiative believes the healing process for the family starts from the inside-out.