Their volunteer hours have been so appreciated and needed and we are not sure how we will replace them. There are no two others alike.

Our best wishes go out to both of you and we love you both so very much. Thanks for your incredible service and heart for what we are doing. You were here at the very beginning and you will never be forgotten for sharing our vision.

Rick Eidson, President

Alicia Eidson, Director of Clinical Services

Scott overpeck, Director of Development

Brett Butler, Director

Scott Coupland, Director

Bill Gorman, Director

Mrs. Alicia!

You are such an amazing person; I mean that from the bottom of my heart!! And I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you and everything you have done for me and my family.

You have had such a positive impact on my life and I really look up to you as a counselor, and my friend. I think that your kids are very lucky to have you, just like I am very lucky to have my mama.

I especially want to tell you what a great Christian you are and what an encouraging person, as well. I am so glad to have you and I am always praying for you and your family!!!!!

I LOVE YOU MRS. ALICIA!!!!!!!!  (–female, age 15)

Things like this are only possible through your generous investment in these families’ lives and I hope that you would consider checking out our donations and get involved pages to help expand our services to more families, couples and individuals in need.

In the article, Jerriann Sullivan of the Central Florida Future writes,

In an effort to fulfill their mission of loving less to love more, they work with nonprofits that help…lower-income people who can’t afford the therapy.  The funding helps provide counseling and additional resources they need.

We are excited to help and are always looking for great partners to help us to work with families and individuals to meet needs before they turn into crisis situations.

If you would like to get involved we have several opportunities:

Would you mind checking out the article and leaving a comment about how much you appreciate their coverage.  It would be great if they would do a write up of us since they are local to our first counseling center. As I am sure you know, traffic is their revenue driver (through advertising) so if mentioning us gets them extra traffic I am sure they would be happy to bring some more coverage our way.

We need partner therapists around the country who are able to add one pro bono client to their schedule.

We need both one time and monthly financial partners able to help us manage our growing client and infrastructure needs.  Our volunteer base is strong, but need the support of some paid staff.

Occasionally, we have simple filing needs in our Winter Springs, Florida headquarters.

We always appreciate social media love.  Tell your friends about our Twitter, Facebook and Myspace pages. Write a blog post about us?  Let us know and we will send some traffic your way.

Lastly, we have several projects in the works that will hopefully yield some exposure for a few corporate sponsors and we would love for you to be a part. Let us know if your company would like to donate goods, services or money to help raise support at a few different charity events we are planning for this year and next.

For more details please email our development director, Scott Overpeck.

Loveless Apparel

Our friends at Loveless Apparel, just posted a new blog letting everyone know about a promo code (its summer if you don’t want to click through). I thought it would be a good time to remind you all that you can support us by simply buying a shirt they designed specifically for us.

Buy me. Help others.

Could not be a simpler way to help people, right?

1. Shock
2. Denial
3. Anger
4. Depression
5. Bargaining
6. Acceptance

The most common of these phases seen first is shock or anger. It is very common to react to the person firing or laying off, and that reaction is not usually the most productive. Screaming and yelling, throwing things, begging, hysterical tears/drama or complete silence is what is commonly observed. Some people will make an attempt to go to someone else with higher authority to plead their case. In most cases, none of this is helpful.

It is important to do your very best to listen, first. Try to hear what is being said, in order to understand why it is happening. There are so many questions: Why is this happening to me? When is this action going to take affect? How will I live? How will I tell my family or friends? What should I do now? None of these questions can be answered while reacting in anger or while being struck silent in shock. It is so important to try to remain calm. Do not over react. Do your very best to not show your anger or pain until you have had time away from the situation to process  it, a bit. Some of these questions will be answered at the time you are being told of this decision. Some can be answered by your human resources departments. It is also common for some to turn to stress eating, drinking or drugs for quick relief.

What can you do to get through the shock and/or anger in a healthy manner? A few ideas may be excessive activity like brisk  walking or jogging. It could be taking a long hot bath. It could be talking it over with your spouse, parents, friends or a counselor. Take time for yourself to process. These things are best to do long before you try to fix the issues this will cause. It is important to not try to make big decisions about other jobs, vacations, getting out of your marriage, taking it out on those closest to you etc, until you had taken the time needed to process through the emotions.

Remember that this is not a reflection usually of who you are. Many are losing their jobs at this point in time due to the economical state of our nation. In the case that it is your own actions that caused this loss, then it would be more important to see a counselor so that you can work on the reasons behind the behaviors that caused it.  Stay tuned for the next post.

Hugh Jackman

Today I was contacted privately by two seperate people on Twitter regarding a friend of their’s committing suicide (unconnected to each other).  It was very tough to hear. They both wanted to make sure we knew that people need help and were behind our vision of making sure that anyone can get the care they need.  That being said, it is a huge task to accomplish.  We know we can do it, but we need your help.  

Hugh Jackman is planning on donation $100,000 AUS to a charity.  (Details here.) Which one, you ask? He is waiting for YOU to tell him, in 140 characters or less, on Twitter.  Please let him know you think he should invest in people like Jennifer and her kids or the young man mentioned earlier in this post. 

If you do not already have a Twitter account you can sign up for one here.  Not ready to make that jump quite yet? That is ok. We still have lots of ways you can help those in pain, those grieving, those who have been abused.  

We need volunteers in our Winter Park, Florida Headquarters.  We need help to pay our staff, who work tirelessly to save lives for mostly for free. We need to spread the word about this site, our Twitter, Myspace and Facebook pages.  We need to connect with therapists around the country.

Bottomline, we need YOU.  Jennifer needs YOU.  The friends who contacted me today need YOU.  You are a part of this movement and we cannot do any of this without you.  

Things like this do not happen without you.

Where they use to live, Tom was seeing a counselor for his depression and anger management issues.

He was doing very well until his resources ran out and the military was no longer able to support outside counseling. Tom and Jennifer knew how important it was to make sure Tom was able to get the help he needed, so they used their meager savings account to help pay for his counseling sessions for about 4 weeks, and then after that they just could no longer afford it. They had already put their entire savings into it.

Right around that time, came word of the move. Jennifer wanted to find a way to get Tom back into counseling, but quickly found the the remote area the military had stationed him had very few counselors in the area. The few that were in town refused to take their insurance, and again Tom had to go without counseling. Tom grew more depressed and withdrawn since they were moved by the military from a thriving metropolis they loved to small rural town on the other side of the country. The area had minimal resources.

Over the past 6 months Tom’s temperament and personality has been changing. Jennifer noticed he was becoming increasingly aggressive. While he was seeing a counselor he was not like that. Tragically Tom recently turned his anger from words to violence, and injured their one month old son in the process.

Tom is now sitting in jail facing felony charges for child abuse. The military has suspended his pay leaving Jennifer to figure out, in a small town with no support system, how to provide for he two young children.

As I spoke to Jennifer I asked her what she felt could have made a difference. She told me that if Tom had been able to keep seeing a counselor and have resources readily available to him she feels that their situation would have been completely avoidable and they would still be together as a family–Husband, Wife and Kids.

She also told me how hard it has been on the kids. In her town the media has been running regular stories about their father. No kid should have to learn about their father in that way.

She asked me to share her story and to this note:

“I know that there are millions of people who could benefit from Renewing Hearts and avoid the side effects of an untreated depression, anxiety, chemical imbalances, or any other such negative result from a mental anguish being left untreated.”

Would you consider donating today?   Kids should have their families together. Wives should not have to watch their husbands fall apart before their eyes knowing how to help but being unable to.

As we embark upon our first large scale fundraising campaign we need your stories to help illustrate why we are doing what we are doing.

Would you be willing to share either in written or video form?  We can remove identifiable information if you prefer.  

Please contact Scott for more information.

There is a mental and emotional health crisis occurring. Lots of organizations are looking to help with crisis intervention. They provide incredible resources to those are the brink. They help talk people through the crisis.

Would you be willing to help today, to provide counseling to someone, so that they never have to get into a crisis in the first place? People shouldn’t have to try to kill themselves before we as a community come around them and help. And for those that do end up there, lets make sure they are able to get the long term care they need after the immediate crisis is over.

Lets work together to make sure that long before friends are looking at suicide warning signs that people are talking through their hurts, dealing with their pasts and getting medication when necessary.

Today, we celebrate how many lives have been saved through very important crisis intervention programs. Tomorrow, let’s partner up and make sure that people have options for care long before they get to that point.