HOPE 4 THE WOUNDED, LLC

I've had the honor of doing several conference sessions and professional development trainings based on information in our newest book (Supporting the Wounded Educator: A Trauma-Sensitive Approach to Self-Care).  I absolutely love doing these sessions, and even more, I love getting feedback and follow-up questions.  All but one of my sessions over the past several months has been virtual, so I sincerely mean this.  When you have the opportunity to work with folks in person you typically get some immediate feedback, but in the virtual world, you just end the meeting.  Done.  No more conversation.  Some people may be good with that, but we struggle with the let down.  We are so emotionally invested in what we do that it almost feels like we got ripped off from debriefing or something!

Anyway, I had the pleasure of receiving an email from a participant in one of my recent sessions asking me for a link to a video I shared.  She proceeded to ask me...

A couple weekends ago, I had the chance to hop on a flight last-minute to celebrate our first granddaughter's first birthday.  The weather in Ohio was crummy, so a quick escape to Florida sounded fabulous, even more so to see the sunshine that is our sweet Noah-girl.

I remember thinking in the midst of the mental to-do list, "I need to start working on the flowerbeds, but it can wait until I get back because it's so cold."  Upon returning to Ohio, I was dismayed because not only was it cold, IT WAS SNOWING ON APRIL 21st!!!  I was even more dismayed because the dang weeds taking up residence in the flowerbeds didn't get the memo that they shouldn't be growing flourishing in cold weather.  And after a few warmer days, they looked like they were on steroids.  How bad could it be, you ask?

Oh friends, this is just the beginning.  I added two more full bags after I took this picture and each bag weighed 30-40 lbs.  And I'm not done yet.  All...

Authoring a book about achieving wellness has put me into an interesting predicament.  I care deeply about others' mind space.  I believe we've put forth some important things for people to consider as we journey this crazy life, and then suddenly....BAM....yeah, I need to heed my own advice.  There's a strange accountability going on here that kind of ticks me off.  "Do as I say, not as I do" just doesn't cut it once you've put it all out there in print and want others to follow along, but it's easy to justify when I'm nobly taking care of everyone else, right?  

Nope.

In our work, we talk a lot about false beliefs.  They take up residence in our minds and hearts and begin looking like truth.  One of the biggest false beliefs we can fall victim to is that by taking care of ourselves, we are compromising the care we give others.  We must be last on the priority list because it's selfish not to put the needs of others first,...

Stress, secondary trauma, and all the varying obstacles in education can lead to educators asking themselves, "Do my efforts really matter?" Heap on top of the "normal" challenges to be found in this profession the weight of the challenges of 2020, it would be easy--even justified--to just withdraw any emotional investment whatsoever.

But please don't. 

If you've known us professionally, you know that we often share the real and raw of our personal experiences as they relate to our passion for marginalized children and the people who serve them.  We are here to tell you from a very tender place in our parental hearts that the answer is yes, what you do matters.

On the evening of December 14, 2020, our 15-year-old son's best friend and running partner, Noah, died in a tragic accident.  Before this news was made public, Noah's parents entrusted the school with delivering this news to our son.  While the principal was telling us about losing Noah, the boys' cross...