Hopebeat Weekly: November 8, 2023

With so much happening in the world, it is challenging to find our way to hope. In fact, it feels almost impossible. Yet it is so necessary, most especially in times of turmoil.

I’ve spent the last week speaking about why we must activate hope, especially with children. These moments of hope and connection fuel me, and keep me moving forward, although they also really drain me. As there is so much to be done, and in many ways we are heading in the wrong direction. We have limited resources, and the challenges are great, yet when I get overwhelmed I do exactly what I teach, I practice my SHINE Hope skills.

Some of my highlights on hope from the week:

1. Thanks to Seth Kahan, his amazing team, and The Huntsman Institute, I learned from brilliant minds in mental health at Stopping The Stigma: A Summit To Address Mental Health for Children, Youth, & Families, and I was able to share our work on Evidence-based Hope: Learning the Tools to Give and Receive Hope. It was a reflection of 19 years of work, how I got from hopelessness to hope, and how I am now on a mission to teach the world. As we talked a lot about addiction in the earlier sessions, I got pretty deep into my story and my why, and how addiction and stigma shaped my life and work here:

2. It was also an honor to speak with my friend and colleague Scarlett Lewis , of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, whose son Jesse was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. She is one of the bravest people I know. Love is also not easy, yet so necessary, and I am always so inspired by her work to share how we Choose Love even under the most horrific of circumstances. We joined in a discussion with Jennifer Richey of the Cause Marketing Summit: Choose Love and Shine Hope for Violence Prevention and Mental Health in Children, Workplaces, and Communities. I love Scarlett’s work so much, am excited to work with other brands on cause marketing campaigns for hope and love, and if you want you can hear our conversation here:

3. My incredible team is now activating hope by doing short clips from our experts around the world.  Please engage with us by following us @theshinehopeco on Twitter and Tiktok, and @theshinehopecompany on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. If inspired, please share our posts to help us spread hope to ensure all know how to hope. Here is one short clip from Chan Hellman, PhD , a Hopeful Mindsets in the College Campus Expert, where he shares why hope is critical for college students:

4. We are making progress on our International Day of Hope at the United Nations, with folks helping to set up meetings with Ambassadors, all starting to activate youth on our Hopeful Minds programming. We would love for you to share with your UN country representative why hope is important for your country, and why it is so important we have this day. You can find your country representative at the UN here. Check out what some change makers have to say about ‘Why Hope’ here:

5. On November 17th, we are honoring and celebrating 75 Years of Mental Health Advocacy with the World Federation for Mental Health in Geneva, Switzerland. It was challenging to start my work in mental health 20 years ago due to stigma. I can’t imagine what it was like 75 years ago. It is an honor to celebrate these brave, courageous, innovative thought leaders who worked to ensure mental health was a priority 75 years ago. If you want to join in the anniversary celebration, please consider joining us virtually or in person us at the World Federation for Mental Health Geneva.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can activate hope in your city, community, workplace, or school, be sure to reach out. There is nothing I love more than seeing people take their power back, as we learn hopelessness from oppressors and if we stay in that state that is when we turn to violence, addiction, and self-harm. There is no better way to overcome those who try to minimize our lives than by learning how to proactively manage hopelessness, and activate our hope to achieve our biggest, boldest, most courageous ambitions that our detractors might say are impossible.

As you know… Once you choose hope, anything is possible. (Christopher Reeves, aka Superman)

Keep Shining Hope,

Kathryn