We look at our mood
\ndisorder as we do with all things: through the lens of faith, faith in a God Who is the God of the
\nuniverse; Who created us, made us, and is all powerful and all-knowing; the true God; the God
\nof the Scriptures, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the Father Who loved us so much that He sent His
\nonly son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. And we don\u2019t apologize for it.
\nWith that said, understand that we don\u2019t get hyper-spiritual in our Fresh Hope meetings, either.
\nPeople are where they are, and we\u2019re fine with that. I\u2019ve seen many people who have little to no
\nfaith at all, or may even have a different faith, come and be quite comfortable; because more than
\nanything, it\u2019s a safe place. It\u2019s a safe place to experience God\u2019s love and not have the Bible
\nshoved down your throat or somebody coming at you.
\nWhen people speak from their own experience, it\u2019s hard to argue with them, especially when
\nsomebody says, \u201cThis is how I\u2019ve experienced the Lord in my recovery.\u201d But the purpose of the
\ngroup is not to be a Bible study, nor is it supposed to be a debate about spiritual matters. Instead
\nit is a group that is there to help extend hope, where hope is extended from a Christian
\nperspective to those who have mood disorders; hope that God is able and quite capable and will
\ndo something great.
\nOur groups are peer-facilitator-led, vs. group-led or by an outside facilitator. Our leaders are
\ntrained to give some direction to the group, not in a therapeutic way as a therapist would lead a
\nsupport group, but different than just letting the group take its own direction. There are topics
\nand a specific plan to follow, especially for the first half of the meeting time.
\nOur tenets are based on a model of faith-filled wellness. You might call it faith-filled recovery
\nprinciples. Our belief is that one can manage his or her own recovery and live a fulfilling and
\njoy-filled life. Now when I say \u201cmanage one\u2019s own recovery\u201d, this means that you\u2019re the lead
\nactive person in it. You\u2019re the person taking active responsibility for your recovery, with your
\ndoctor assisting and helping, but you are pushing through and choosing to live.
\nWe recognize that even when we’re sick, we still have the power to choose. We believe that faith
\nenables us to continue to operate. And sometimes faith is all that we have when we are at our
\nsickest.
\nWe recognize the difference between our brain, our mind, and our soul. Our brain is the organ,
\nand our mind is what the brain does. The Lord uses our minds to feed our souls through His
\nWord; our faith is part of our soul. This distinction is fundamentally important. It is because of
\nthe distinction between our brain, mind, and soul that we maintain that at times our brains are not
\nchemically balanced; causing the function of the brain to bring about unhealthy\/unbalanced
\nthinking and actions. These unhealthy thoughts and actions are not a true reflection of who we
\nare. The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do. It is especially<\/p>\n
4
\nduring these times that we need to call upon our faith even more in spite of what we are thinking
\nand feeling.
\nFaith is the key element that enables us to overcome and makes Fresh Hope different than other
\nrecovery models. From our perspective, our faith is what enables us to not lose hope, and in fact
\nis our source of hope even at the most hopeless times of our journey. Faith in Christ is not only
\nthe source of our hope; it gives to us the power to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). Because of
\nChrist, our hope and faith, we do not simply live our lives \u201ccoping\u201d with a mental illness; instead
\nwe live out our lives in wellness despite our mental health challenges.
\nWe see Fresh Hope as an environment where people listen, where people share only from their
\nperspective. We don\u2019t preach at each other. We don\u2019t tell each other how to do something, what
\nto believe, or how to respond. We encourage one another, and we share our journey with one
\nanother. We do challenge one another at times. But it\u2019s a safe environment. It\u2019s a safe
\nenvironment where equipping people to successfully manage (self-empowered wellness) their
\nmood disorder is the goal.
\nFresh Hope is a belief that God can use our brokenness for our good, and that when God uses us,
\nHe has a purpose and a plan for our lives, mental health challenge or not. Feeling like we\u2019re
\nbroken and shattered in a million pieces, or not, God has a plan.
\nIn fact, Fresh Hope believes that until we\u2019re broken and recognize our brokenness and our need
\nfor God, He really can\u2019t use us all that much.
\nIn Fresh Hope, we infuse hope and faith that God loves us and empowers us to become victors,
\nand to live as victors in Him, in spite of anything in our lives \u2013 maybe most of all, our mental
\nhealth challenges.<\/p>\n
What are the goals of Fresh Hope?
\nThe first goal is to empower the person who has a mental health challenge to successfully
\nmanage his\/her recovery, choosing wellness to live a happy and fulfilling life.
\nThe second goal of Fresh Hope is to empower loved ones to understand and appropriately relate
\nto their loved one who has the mood disorder, and come alongside their loved one in recovery, so
\nthat they too might enjoy life.
\nThe third goal is that we provide a safe place for sharing both pain and hope without fear of
\njudgment by anyone. In other words, we want to make it a safe place where self-discovery can
\nhappen and people can be honest and transparent with one another.
\nThe fourth goal is really the overarching goal, and that is to offer healing for the past and hope
\nfor the future.<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
What blessings can you expect?
\nFresh Hope as a peer group support system is phenomenal. It blows my mind \u2013 no pun intended
\n\u2013 at how powerful the Fresh Hope experience has been for people and how it\u2019s helped them. I
\nknow self-help groups help people, but I have never seen lives changed like this in all my years
\nof ministry.<\/p>\n","url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/","url_text":"freshhope.us","main_services":"United States, Support Groups, Coaching, books, mental health support, groups, christian, psychology, peer, church","image_1":"https:\/\/diib.com\/featuredmembers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Logo-Fresh-Hope-for-Mental-Health.jpg","client_review":"","why_we":"","history":"","image_2":false,"image_3":false},"yoast_head":"\n