You Do Matter Minnesota: A Digital Lifeline for a Community in Crisis

The 2025-2026 Minnesota winter was different. There was the usual biting cold and snow, but a tension filled the frosty air. A heavy silence loomed over empty streets — broken only by the din of whistles and honking car alarms. Snowball fights and sledding were replaced by the din of protest and the smell of tear gas.

In the wake of Operation Metro Surge — the massive federal immigration enforcement actions that swept through the state — many neighbors were afraid to leave their homes. 

Ordinary citizens wrestled with overwhelming guilt and the weight of moral injury. The trauma wasn't just what they saw, but how they felt: a deep sense of helplessness, a fear that they weren't doing enough, or that their own grief didn't count compared to the horror unfolding on the streets.

Despite the fear, communities came together. Parents stood watch at drop-offs and pick-ups. Neighborhood Signal groups and patrols were set up, marches were scheduled, and mutual aid was collected and distributed. Money was donated to keep the many Hmong, Somali, and Mexican immigrant businesses that had closed afloat.

“We were witnessing a time of incredible clarity around values,” says Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota. “That clarity led to solidarity, and that solidarity led to action. But we also saw people paralyzed by stress, by secondary trauma, by the sheer weight of it all.”

The Bakken Center is no stranger to crisis response. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team launched the first You Do Matter website. This online repository of short, accessible videos and practices aimed to support frontline workers and anyone feeling overwhelmed in a worldwide health crisis. Built on the “skim, swim, dive” model borrowed from museum curation, users could skim a one-minute tip, swim into a three-minute practice, or dive deep into a five-minute video. The site served as a resource for a world in lockdown.

But as ICE actions unfolded, the team knew the old site wasn't enough. This crisis was different. The trauma was specific, and the need was immediate. The website needed more than content updates. It required reshaping for the urgent challenge.

“We realized we couldn’t just resurrect the prior site, but we had to make it new,” Kreitzer recalls. “We couldn't just wait for perfection. We also had to get something in people's hands.”

“We had a strong sense of urgency and a deep desire to support our community; it was a privilege to be able to focus our energies on creating this resource,” said Sue Nankivell, the Center’s director of business development and community relations. 

Building a Wellbeing Hub

What followed was a feat of logistical artistry and creative collaboration. Over the long Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, while much of the country rested, the Bakken Center team got busy building the You Do Matter Minnesota: Living Through Crisis website.

“It was Sue Nankivell, our director of business development and community relations, who really pulled the threads together,” mindfulness and wellbeing instructor Mariann Johnson recalls. “She called me on a Friday afternoon, and then we talked all weekend long. It was really just: What do we have that we can utilize right away? And what do we need to create?”

The “lean but mighty” team of content creators, administrators, graphic designers, and tech support worked for 72 hours with a singular focus, drawing on a cache of existing mindfulness resources, repurposing videos on anxiety and grief. But they also created entirely new content geared to the specific wounds of the moment.

Dr. Stephanie “Stevi” Shively, PhD, MA, LPC—an instructor at the Bakken Center with a background in medical humanities and a personal connection to neurodiversity—was tasked with creating the trauma-informed content, while Johnson developed new meditations and community reflections. Drawing on her expertise, Shively focused on creating tools that work in the body immediately, bypassing complex theories for those in crisis.

Merging Science with Solidarity

Beyond offering validation, the site provided a toolkit. Drawing on polyvagal theory — the science of how the nervous system responds to threat — Shively and Johnson created resources that were both scientifically sound and practically accessible.

Johnson’s creations include the “Compassionate Stop” resource, a brief meditation that helps users ground themselves in the moment. Another is based on “P.A.C.E.” (Pause, Acknowledge, Compassion, Engage), a framework emphasizing that healing is not a solitary act.

“The 'Engage' part is different here. We never do this alone. To heal, we need each other,” Johnson says. “We stood with our neighbors, with our whistles, with our presence.”

For those whose nervous systems were in a state of high alert, the site also offered somatic tools; such as, splashing cold water on their face to trigger their body’s natural calming reflex and humming exercises to stimulate their vagus nerve. But crucially, the site emphasized that these tools must be practiced before the crisis.

“If you've built a neural pathway by practicing humming or cold water immersion when you’re calm, then it's accessible when you need it,” Shively explains. “I had a colleague who, in a moment of high stress, ran outside and punched her hands in the snow because that was what she remembered. That’s the power of practice.”

Redefining Trauma

Behind every resource was a deeper philosophical shift — a redefinition of trauma. In clinical terms, the DSM-5 defines trauma narrowly, requiring a threat to one’s life or safety. But Shively and other experts argue that this restrictive definition of trauma leaves out too many people who have experienced significant distress because they don’t fit the narrow criteria.

“People often say, ‘Yeah, but what I experienced doesn't count,’“ Shively says. “They compare themselves to someone who had a horrific experience and think, ‘My grief isn't as bad.’ But trauma is any deeply distressing experience that overwhelms our capacity to cope and leaves lasting scars. It's not a competition. There are no trauma Olympics.”

This reframing was vital. During the ICE crisis, many Minnesotans were experiencing secondary trauma — watching others suffer — and moral injury, the distress that comes from witnessing actions that violate one's moral code. They were also grappling with the “shoulds” that often relate to feeling shame: I should be protesting. I should be doing more. I shouldn't be grieving my own life when others are losing theirs.

Shively emphasizes that shame acts like tar, keeping people stuck. Instead, the site offers grace, reminding users that small acts of self-care matter just as much as grand gestures.

Mobilizing a Community Response

The response to the site was immediate and overwhelming. Within days, the Minnesota Department of Health featured it on their homepage. The University of Minnesota promoted it in email signatures and social media. Minnesota Public Radio ran a feature story. 

But perhaps the most meaningful feedback came from the community itself. Johnson recalls distributing the resource at a gathering of 300 neighbors, quickly seeing it adopted in schools, community centers, and classrooms across the state.

The feedback was often simple, but profound. “Thank you.” “This helps me feel less alone.” And “I finally feel like my grief counts.”

“It was gratifying to see You Do Matter Minnesota shared organically within community groups where people were working so hard to support their neighbors and each other,” reflects Sue Nankivell. “To see people share this free, accessible resource as a gesture of their own care and support for others was incredibly meaningful.”    

In a world that often measures worth by productivity, achievement, or even how loudly we protest, the message of You Do Matter is radical. It asserts that human value is inherent. You matter because you’re here. Your feelings matter. Your presence matters.

Even after its initial impact, the legacy of You Do Matter Minnesota endures. Kreitzer notes that the resources will evolve with community needs, but staying responsive requires sustained investment. With continued support, the Bakken Center can be ready to take action when the next community need arises, so that no one faces trauma alone.