When Grace’s anxiety became too big to wrap her arms around, she turned to Amberwing – Center for Youth & Family Well-Being. There, she learned the skills to breathe through difficult moments while feeling validated and supported along the way.

Amberwing — Center for Youth & Family Well-Being was created by the Miller-Dwan Foundation to provide the greatest level of compassion and skill, in the most welcoming of healing environments. Set in a restful wooded area, Amberwing brings together the combined resources of community philanthrophy and a health system to create a national model for effective mental health care.

A travel and outdoors enthusiast in his 70s, Eliot had no plans to slow down or cut back on his daily three-mile hikes. Then, a Parkinsonism diagnosis changed everything.

When it feels like everything is closing in at once, who do you entrust with the care of your beloved grandmother—the one who made everyone around her feel so special? For Jessie and her dad Bruce, Solvay Hospice House became a beacon of compassion, understanding and peace for their Evelyn at the most difficult time.

COVID-19 knocked Wayne down, hard and fast. Over the next 3 months, he slowly got back up with the steady help of a dedicated team of rehabilitation specialists who were learning, like the rest of the world, how to adjust during a pandemic.

Getting kids in speech therapy to open up and engage isn’t always easy. But having a cheery black Lab retriever there to greet you and learn alongside you can help. That’s what speech pathologist Chelsea hoped for when she sought out a facility dog.

When it comes to traumatic burn injuries—the kind caused by extreme heat and cold, chemicals, electricity and more—the right care can make a life-or-death difference.

Esther died alone, in a motel room. It was a cold, murky morning. The hotel was small and cheap and located just off the freeway.

When your world is changing fast, both inside and around you, it helps to have the right people and skills to lean on. Kale Pierson and his family found that at just the right time.

Nova isn’t a medical expert, she just really knows how to love, says Jack Lee, her owner and trainer.

Kristin Chederquist embraced some of the biggest challenges with bold love. In the last days of her life, Solvay Hospice House offered Kristin and her family space to experience dignity, comfort and peace.

Emotional pain from the past can splash into life and relationships without warning. To brace those waves, the Fermenich family tunes into faith, humor and the tools they learned from Amberwing – Center for Youth & Family Well-Being.

Alina Beer cared for her husband for seven years. Married 15 years, the cancer diagnosis was a devastating blow.

Before the accident, Tammy Jensen’s typical day was a busy, noisy, go-get-’em affair. The mother of two zipped back and forth from Buhl to Duluth, Minnesota for work, where she saw orthodontics patients each day

Julia Koepp is a seventeen-year-old student, artist and mental health advocate who found help for anxiety at Amberwing – Center for Youth & Family Well-Being.
She wants to go into the mental health care field when she graduates. For now, she’s using her voice—and her art—to share messages of support and healing.

When the health of someone you love is diminishing, you want to give them more time somehow. Those were the feelings of Jim Larson and his four boys when they decided—along with their beloved wife and mom, Alice—that it was time to move her to Solvay Hospice House.

Miller-Dwan Foundation has added psychotherapist Rick Gertsema, MS, LP to its staff to help it develop and launch initiatives that will allow it to leverage its unique strengths to create a healthy, vibrant, resilient community free from mental health crisis.

When someone you love passes away it can be a complex emotional journey, marked by a mixture of grief, love and acceptance. And in the end, there can be a constant battle between wanting to remain strong and supportive while grappling with the intense pain of witnessing the challenges your loved one endures.  Janet Peterson experienced all of those emotions

Over 1 in 10 youth in the U.S. are experiencing depression that severely impairs their ability to function at school or work, at home, with family, or in their social life.  (Source: mhanational.org) Thirteen-year-old Sylva falls within that “1 in 10″ statistic. Her courage in advocating for herself and seeking the help she needed was remarkable and so was the

The Miller-Dwan Foundation has a long history of addressing the most pressing challenges facing our region with creative solutions such as: Supported Polinsky Medical Rehabilitation Center’s innovative rehab programs. Solvay Hospice House’s dignified end-of-life services. Amberwing–Center for Youth & Family Well-Being’s youth mental health programs.
HopeX, multiply community healing  Right now, we are facing a new public health threat. Accelerated

The state of our minds can be felt in every part of our body, making the bond between our mental and physical health undeniable. This mind-body connection underscores Miller-Dwan Foundation’s decision this past year to acquire Courage Kenny–Northland programming from Allina Health, renaming and rebranding it Northland Adaptive Recreation (NAR). “The goal of Northland Adaptive Recreation is to broaden recreation

 The impact of a gift Ruth Strom McCutcheon’s connection to healthcare runs deep. From her early career as a nurse practitioner to her work in healthcare administration, Ruth has always been committed to improving health and well-being.  Her personal experience with a sister battling schizoaffective disorder, combined with her awareness that many of her patients were struggling with the effects

 The impact of love  Jim Ransom has lived a full and accomplished life. As an engineer and a dedicated salesperson for a steel company, he spent 40 years serving Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. But for Jim, his greatest achievement was always his family. He met his wife, Heath, in college, and together they built a life filled with love,

 The impact of resilience  For Justine Broderson and her close-knit family—husband David, daughter Vivienne, and son Guthrie—life in the small rural town of Cornucopia, Wisconsin, has always been lively. Running a seasonal coffee shop, staying active in the community, and managing daily responsibilities keep them busy and feeling deeply grateful. But nothing could have prepared them for the upheaval that

 The Impact of freedom  At 18, Emma McDonald is like any other teenager—she loves hanging out with friends, shopping, and working with kids at Bayview Elementary School’s Kids Zone. But she also navigates life with spina bifida, a condition that makes walking difficult and exhausting. While she has always been determined to do as much as possible, recreational activities have often