Whole-Person, Trauma-Informed Care
Everything we offer starts with safety, trust, and respect. Our trauma-informed, whole-person model connects stable housing, life skills, emotional wellness, and mentorship into one coordinated plan. We listen to each youth's goals and history, then build support that honors their story and protects their dignity. This approach reduces crisis, increases stability, and creates real space for healing, growth, and long-term independence across housing, education, and employment.
Authentic Lived Leadership
Nurturing Journeys was created by someone who has seen system gaps up close and refused to ignore them. Lived experience shapes every policy, routine, and program decision, which keeps our work grounded in reality instead of theory. Youth, donors, and partners know our leadership understands Texas foster care transitions, extended care, and supervised independent living requirements. That authenticity builds trust, strengthens collaboration, and leads to support that feels practical, honest, and deeply human.
Family-Like Community
Youth transitioning out of foster care often describe feeling alone. We respond by building a steady, family-like community that balances care with accountability. Through mentorship circles, peer connections, and consistent staff presence, young adults gain a network that celebrates progress and speaks truth with compassion. We stay present beyond one crisis or program cycle, which helps youth practice responsibility while knowing they still have people in their corner who genuinely care.
How Our Work Began
Founded in 2025, our story grows out of lived experience, advocacy, and a determination to change outcomes.
Our Beginnings
Nurturing Journeys started in Texas, created to close painful gaps youth face after leaving foster care.
Our Approach
We combine safe housing, life skills, mentorship, and emotional support, using trauma-informed practices that honor each story.
Our Leadership
Lived-experience leadership and a developing board guide our mission with accountability, compassion, and clear expectations.
Our Future
We are building capacity across Texas and Louisiana, partnering with communities that believe youth deserve stable futures.
Catina Thomas
Founder/ Executive Director
Catina Thomas created Nurturing Journeys after seeing too many youth transition out of foster care without the steady support most young adults receive from family. Her own lived experience, years of advocacy, and deep community roots shape how we show up every day. Catina believes young adults are not problems to fix, they are leaders in the making who deserve safety, dignity, and real opportunity. Under her guidance, we pair stable housing with practical skills, mentorship, and trauma-informed care so each person can move between survival and stability at a realistic pace. Her vision is simple and bold, every youth in Texas should know they have somewhere safe to land and a community that stays present as they build the future they want.