Our Mission
We are devoted to community well-being
Servant Leadership:
“It’s amazing to see our clients “transform,” being a supportive ally for them and their families is hard work that requires heart and commitment. I see my clients change, taking pride in themselves and their home, helping out and changing a bad attitude to a positive and cooperative one. In families, I help them learn how to solve problems without anger, how to communicate in effective ways and mend broken relationships. I have had the honor of seeing a family sit down to dinner for the very first time…WOW!”
Service to Others…
“As a Wellness Coach, I work with youth and young adults in troubling situations. Youth in juvenile detention face many challenges beyond the obvious legal ones. One of these was a client who was detained due to substance abuse issues and referred for support and treatment. The referral described him as an un-motivated and defiant youth with a troubled past. When I met him, we took time to talk and I learned more about his perspectives. I learned there were learning challenges and social anxieties that stemmed from past traumatic events. We build a trusting work partnership because there was no judgement and his motivation led the work. He made a commitment to himself, his family and his team from Open Hearts to be “real” and learn how to do the right thing. Week by week, he began to make strides; one of the first was a visit to the library. We checked out a book to practice reading. He was insecure but willing to practice with me, despite the fact that he had been bullied and ridiculed because he could not correctly pronounce the words or nervously stuttering. As his Wellness Coach, we practiced how to speak up in class, ask questions, address limiting beliefs and create a new vision for him self. He moved from seeing the reflection of a failure to one of an intelligent athlete with a new dream of attending college to better himself. I’m very proud of our work together, we had the time to learn what a healthy lifestyle looks like: self respect, athletics and care for your body, appreciating family and learning how to work towards goals to accomplish them. There are many other “miracles” that happened in our work, he still has much to overcome, but now has the tools and skills for the rest of his life.”
Bold Innovation
“When I was younger I never really thought that my career path would take me down this road. But once I started here at Open Hearts Family Wellness I saw how emotionally starved the teenagers were in our programs. So many of them never had an adult who was willing to listen to them, validate their feelings, encourage and support them or follow-through on promises made to them. I have been able to do work that feeds my heart and have been supported by Open Hearts to pursue my master’s degree and professional licensure.”
“Imagine a single mom working to support her three children, living paycheck-to-paycheck, that would be hard for anyone. One of the daughters, age 9 was my client. She came to Open Hearts because there was a great deal of turmoil in the home, mostly her outbursts in the home and inability to get along with others. These issues caused problems in school as well, distracted from learning and disrupted the scarce moments of family time with fights and drama. Mom was stressed and exhausted, resorting to control, yelling and threats to force her daughter to cooperate. I worked with the youth and created an alliance with the mother to truly listen and understand their lives, what they held dear and what they wanted to change. Slowly and intentfully, we worked together to learn parenting skills, home management tips, positive communication and cooperative family routines. We practiced by experiencing activities in the community and creating new memories to build on. Today, this family has skills they can take to the future. Mom and daughter now speak to each other with respect and patience. Both are in a better place, this has changed the future for their entire family.”
