Fresh Hope Ministry Update

There’s a lot of things happening within Fresh Hope’s International Ministry! So, we thought in this blog post we would give you an update of all that is happening!

Fresh Hope Regional Ambassadors

We are excited to announce that we now have Regional Ambassadors! These ambassadors will serve as our point of connection within regions of the western hemisphere. They will be connecting with the more than 150 facilitators currently leading groups in the United States and Central America. The ambassadors will also help new groups starting in their regions and assist existing groups.

USA Northwest Region: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming

Kyla Warner, Kyla@FreshHope.us

Rusty Ford, Rusty@FreshHope.us

USA Southwest Region: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah

Pastors Dale and Martha Rose, Rose@FreshHope.us

 

USA Central Midwest Region: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota

Allen and Jamie Meyer, Meyer@FreshHope.us

 

USA Upper Midwest Region: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin 

Barb and Mike Gutho, Gutho@FreshHope.us

Jon Hanchett, Hanchett@FreshHope.us

 

USA Northeast Region: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia

         

Sandy and Charles Thomas, Thomas@FreshHope.us

 

USA Southern Region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia 

Pastor John Hereford

 

Mexico

Christian Coleman-Jones, Christian@FreshHope.us

 

El Salvador

Samanta Karaa, Samantha@FreshHope.us

 

Fresh Hope for Teen Groups

We now have three Fresh Hope for Teens groups:  Washington state, Houston, TX, and in Canada! Our teen groups work a little differently than a group for adults. Two groups actually meet at the same time. One is for the teens and their friends who are their supporters, and the other is for the parents. The facilitators are for both groups, but they switch back and forth. So there are at least four facilitators, two in each group. And then they flip back and forth however they determine is most beneficial.  Our teen groups have modified teen-tenets, but still with the same idea that it’s possible to live well in spite of a mental health challenge.

We’d love to help you start a local Fresh Hope for Teens group!

 

 Fresh Hope for Living Free

Our Living Free initiative is in the writing and editing phase, and we hope to have it ready for publication by the end of this year and available for others to use.  This program has been in development during a three-year pilot program as Pastor Brad works in the Douglas County jail in Omaha, NE. He developed a short-term 17-week short-term intervention group curriculum which will be available for jails and prisons to use.

The curriculum is designed for men and women who are incarcerated, but also provides an ongoing support group for them when they have been released from jail or prison.  But the curriculum will also work well for those who are not incarcerated or have never been incarcerated, but who want to work on emotional, spiritual, addiction, and mental health issues.

This curriculum and ongoing support group would be a great program for local churches who desire to have a presence in their local jail or prison: teaching the curriculum within the facility, and providing the ongoing support group at their church for those who have been released from being incarcerated.  Local jail and prison chaplains will certainly be able to offer the curriculum in their facilitators even without the help of a local church.

 

 A Fresh Hope Book for Loved Ones

Pastor Brad and Donna have finished authoring the book for loved ones, and it’s now in the editing phase. The title of the book is Holding to Hope, Staying Sane While Loving Someone with a Mental Illness.  The book takes loved ones through the Fresh Hope tenets and is written in such a way that loved ones could easily use it as a study guide in a group or individuals may use it themselves.

Besides covering the tenets of Fresh Hope, there are chapters on many additional questions and topics. These include, “What do you do when children are involved: What do you tell? What do you not tell?”, “How do you trust after trust has been broken?”, “What do you do when your loved one is suicidal?”, and “How do you help, but not enable, your loved one?”

We hope the book will be released by the end of this year or early 2020. It would be great if you could order it as a Christmas present!

 

Fresh Hope Spanish Resources

Our Fresh Hope materials are now being translated into Spanish, thanks to both Samanta from El Salvador and Christian from Mexico!  Plus, we now offer Spanish-speaking Fresh Hope groups both online and locally in El Salvador and Mexico City, Mexico.  This literally will allow us to offer Fresh Hope to even millions of more Spanish-speaking people.

 

Hope Coach Training

Hope Coaches are individuals who are trained and certified to serve in local churches and other ministries.  They are equipped with exceptional listening skills, practical ways of helping others process pain, and the ability to speak hope into situations without giving spiritual platitudes or toxic positivity.  We are hoping to introduce our Hope Coach training and certification in 2020.

Hope Coaches will be trained to ask the right questions to help people express their pain and process it, but also then to speak hope into those situations. And it’s not just for mental health coaching. It could be for anything. Fresh Hope is about how to live well, in spite of any difficult challenge in life, where having hope is absolutely key to getting through it.

 

Trauma Healing Groups Now Offered

Fresh Hope now has numerous Trauma Healing facilitators who have begun to lead Trauma Healing groups nationwide.  Trauma plays a significant role for those who have mental health challenges.  Sometimes it is a traumatic event in and of itself that brings about a mental illness.  Trauma Healing groups are part of the Trauma Healing Institute of the American Bible Society.  If you are interested in hosting a Trauma Healing group at your church or ministry please email Donna@FreshHope.us

 

Surviving Together for Those Who Have Lost Their Loved Ones to Suicide

Fresh Hope has started its’ first Fresh Hope group for those who have lost their loved ones to suicide.  It’s called Surviving Together (www.Surviving2gether.com)  We’ve just started this as a pilot group.  If your church and/or ministry is interested in potentially starting a Surviving Together group, email Donna@FreshHope.us

 

Start a Fresh Hope Group at Your Church

We’d love to encourage you to start a Fresh Hope for Mental Health group that meets at your church or in a close-by ministry or hospital.  We do require that all of our groups be sponsored by a ministry or an entity such as a church, for instance, and that they’re always held in public places. We’ll train and certify the facilitators, and it’s a pretty easy process in many regards. It doesn’t cost much, and we’ll even waive the cost for you if you can’t afford it.  You can begin the process by contacting Nicole@FreshHope.us  Also contact Nicole if you would like information about anything else that we’ve talked about in this post.

 

Fresh Hope is a faith-based non-profit that empowers people to live well in spite of their mental health challenge.

YOUR gift will provide a person with God’s Fresh HOPE for daily living. Click here to donate, today.