About Hope to Healing™
Hope to Healing™ is focused on healing healers, those individuals who dedicate their lives to helping others and are at high risk for compassion fatigue. Traditionally, these professions have been viewed as a ‘practice’ that is based on rational and considered thought – but these professionals do emotional work; they deal with pain, joy, anxiety, unhappiness, hope, loss and anger on a daily basis. Care taking or healing professions, especially those in high stress, trauma-exposed environments such as healthcare, the criminal justice sector, social and human services, emergency response, armed forces, education, child welfare, community mental health, non-profit organizations and related services have the highest rate of suicide over any other professions and were prone to burn-out with stressful work environments, but with COVID the perfect storm of burnout, compassion fatigue, mental fatigue and labor shortages with increased healing service demands has prompted founders to bring to all those in caregiving capacities the coping, healing, resilience support. and spiritual heightening so they may fulfill their purpose and we may preserve these critical services for humanity.
As Jean Watson discussed in her human caring theory, self-care activities are very important when working in such stressful situations. Sitzman and Watson (2014) state “caring is inclusive, circular, and expansive: Caring for self, caring for each other, caring for patients/clients/families, caring for the environment/nature, and the universe.”
Many services are popping up around burnout and labor shortages but fall short to addressing the unique needs of humans who are wired for caregiving (humanistic physiology principles), and often charge to teach your people WHAT to do but lack support systems for HOW to do it, namely building resiliency to allow for continued community service.
About Hope to Healing
H2 Foundation is focused on healing healers, those individuals who dedicate their lives to helping others and are at high risk for compassion fatigue. Traditionally, these professions have been viewed as a ‘practice’ that is based on rational and considered thought – but these professionals do emotional work; they deal with pain, joy, anxiety, unhappiness, hope, loss and anger on a daily basis. Care taking or healing professions, especially those in high stress, trauma-exposed environments such as healthcare, the criminal justice sector, social and human services, emergency response, armed forces, education, child welfare, community mental health, non-profit organizations and related services have the highest rate of suicide over any other professions and were prone to burn-out with stressful work environments, but with COVID the perfect storm of burnout, compassion fatigue, mental fatigue and labor shortages with increased healing service demands has prompted founders to bring to all those in caregiving capacities the coping, healing, resilience support. and spiritual heightening so they may fulfill their purpose and we may preserve these critical services for humanity.
As Jean Watson discussed in her human caring theory, self-care activities are very important when working in such stressful situations. Sitzman and Watson (2014) state “caring is inclusive, circular, and expansive: Caring for self, caring for each other, caring for patients/clients/families, caring for the environment/nature, and the universe.”
Many services are popping up around burnout and labor shortages but fall short to addressing the unique needs of humans who are wired for caregiving (humanistic physiology principles), and often charge to teach your people WHAT to do but lack support systems for HOW to do it, namely building resiliency to allow for continued community service.
Mission
To serve those who commit their lives to helping others and are at high risk for compassion fatigue, burnout and trauma.
Vision
To be an immediate source of hope to healing needs with practical frameworks and supportive connections.
Our Values: HELP2 TM
Helping
We develop the whole person through engaging relationships and formative experiences across all aspects of healing work.
Equitable
We respect and care for the dignity of all people while celebrating the diversity that enriches our community.
Learning
We foster Life-Long learning with intellectual curiosity and the passionate pursuit of knowledge to lead meaningful, successful, and fulfilling lives.
Patience and Perseverance
We lead by putting others first, through our commitment to service with others, and never tiring concern for the vulnerable.
The How
Hope to Healing™ goes beyond your average self-help advice by providing you with the step-by-step tools and community support needed for achieving your goals as a caregiver. We focus on elevating soft skills such as empathy, assertiveness, adaptability, creativity and so on. Our goal is to help you focus on the rewarding humanistic side of work so you can focus less energy on those mundane tasks like paperwork, emails, and so forth.
Sustainability
Sometimes the best way to learn is by teaching. Our Learners Become Teachers model allows you to become an expert in sustainability coaching and teach fellow caregivers.
Our Terminology
For our work, we leverage the following definitions:
Burnout
Stems from conflict with the workplace and refers to feelings of hopelessness and exhaustion that make it difficult to be effective at work. These feelings typically start slowly and get worse over time (gradual). People struggling with burnout often have very high workloads, have few opportunities for rest, or are working in unsupportive environments or feel unappreciated.
Compassion Fatigue
Comes from care giving relationships - emotional engagement and interpersonal intensity (may be acute)resulting in sense of depletion. May appear as physical or emotional fatigue or exhaustion; can often feel like they have no power or control over what happens in life. They may feel “stuck” or “trapped” in a situation. Can look like: lack of energy, poor sleep, and decreased motivation can make it difficult to overcome exhaustion. Over time, this chronic state can cause permanent damage to health.
Moral Distress
times we are forced by circumstance, or instructed, to act in ways that conflict with our personal values, beliefs and morality. It is these parts of our work that may result in lasting inner turmoil that can negatively affect our quality of life. Moral distress of this kind is associated with feelings of guilt, shame and resentment.
Compassion Satisfaction
The pleasure you derive from the feeling of being effective in your work as a health/community service worker. For example, you may feel like it is a pleasure to help others through your work. You may feel positively about your colleagues or your ability to contribute to the work setting or the greater good of society.
Secondary Traumatic Stress
(STS) is about your work-related, secondary exposure to traumatically stressful events such as witnessing terrible suffering, violence or death. STS often starts suddenly following particularly difficult experiences. People struggling with STS often struggle with upsetting and uncontrollable memories, constantly thinking about bad experiences, avoiding activities that remind them of bad experiences, being afraid for no reason, and having difficulty sleeping.
Trauma Informed Growth
(TIG) aka posttraumatic growth, often happens naturally, without formal intervention, it can be fostered and facilitated in five ways: through education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service. We define trauma as an experience, a series of events, or set of circumstances that it can have lasting and 'growth' effects on individual and community physical, social, and emotional wellbeing.
Note on Land Acknowledgement
Hope to Healing operates out of Wellington Acres property, which is located on the ancestral unceded lands of the Sioux Santee (Eastern Dakota) Wahpekute (Waȟpékhute) peoples and it is with humility we honor and pay our respects to elders both past and present and offer our services and support to those in need.
Note on Religious Diversity & Christian Foundations
We believe Christians should always be tolerant of other religious beliefs while we may not accept them as the truth. Rule 2 - “Love your neighbor as you love yourself“. Lord Jesus has advised all of us to love, respect and show mercy to every human being in this world, which includes members of all religions. We should present the truth with love. After all, love is the most important thing in this world and Jesus puts so much emphasis on love in His teachings, as it is written in Matthew 22:37-39,
We will respect and love others in their beliefs, we will even try to learn from them, yet, we will show greater love in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul explains that it is the nature of humans to not accept God. This, again, is a very powerful statement because it tells us that whether we like it or not, some people will never believe in Christianity, even if we tolerate their beliefs first. And yet, even when we get rejected in the process, we are still blessed, as it is written in Luke 6:22.
Note on Meditations
The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study, and to practice. For the Christian, like the Buddhist, there is no rule as to how one meditates, whether alone or in a group, sitting, standing, or walking. Like anything, mindfulness can be misused. But it can be a healthy way to manage stress when it's intended to improve mental health and strengthen one's relationship with spiritual health.
Note on Affirmations
Affirmations are positive statements used to help someone move toward a goal or improve their life’s outlook.
Positive affirmations are typically spoken or write daily in order to improve a way of thinking. Christian or not, many people question the validity of daily affirmations. There is scientific basis for the use of repetitive thoughts that are positive. One study confirmed that self-affirmations can restore self-competence by allowing individuals to reflect on sources of self-worth, such as core values. Some Christians have concerns with the use of positive affirmations because they are sometimes taught as a new age or self-help philosophy. The belief sometimes taught is that by speaking a positive intention, you can manifest it into being because the universe will bring you what you create in your mind. We believe it is possible to use affirmations that are neutral in nature, meaning they aren’t specifically Biblically focused but do not go against the teachings of scripture.
Note on Self-Help/Healing
Some Christians have concerns about self-help/healing philosophy because of the Biblical teaching that God created the universe and is in control of it. Phrases like “I heal myself,” are believed mis-aligned because we do not heal ourselves. God heals us. It is that final statement that we believe we can heal ourselves, not agnostically but rather as an ability gifted by God. Thus, we, amidst all of the current societal upheaval, ask ourselves: How can we find transformative healing and lasting resilience without escaping society altogether? We believe it is possible to heal yourself through God’s love and this is supported by decades of neuroscience, psychotherapy, and evidence-based trauma treatment methods