Hello friend,
You probably came to this site because you were looking for healing for yourself or a loved one, not because you were interested in helping others heal. But do you know something? The most important way for you or I to find wholeness and healing is not through the single-minded mentality of getting ourselves healed, but to also commit to the healing of another. If you believe that, too, then read on. Or, if you prefer - skip the long monologue and simply contribute!
If you'd like to contribute to the healing of another person who is suffering from pain today - even $5, then go here to Give a Healing Song! .
The Problem of Hurting in a World that is Not Made for Healing
Professional mental health counselors exist because this world is a far from perfect place. To live on this planet means to be hurt emotionally, intellectually, physically, or spiritually at some point. You can't get away from pain. What complicates this universal problem of pain is the fact that we carry with us our parents' genes. Whether we like it or not, some people are born with a biological vulnerability for mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. Added to that, we are not in control of the development of our personality. So, if our childhood environment is aversive or toxic, then we may lack certain coping skills in our personality that could help us deal effectively with adverse life events.
When you put these factors together - the inevitability of painful events, inherited vulnerability to mental health problems, and the effect of environmental stress on our personality - it means that some of us are going to struggle in coping with painful life events more than others. Let's say an unexpected crisis happens - job loss, death or divorce of a family member, or a car accident. To heal from it in a constructive manner, we'd need to work through the pain, usually with the support of family and friends. But if the intensity, depth, or complication of the wound overwhelms our available mental, emotional, or relational resources, we may need expert help.
Unfortunately, expertise isn't always an option because expertise usually costs money. As a therapist specializing in trauma and anxiety, I cannot count the number of people who sought therapy who needed help badly, but who couldn't afford my fee or didn't have adequate insurance coverage. Wounded by some painful life event and without the resources or support to heal, they had no choice but to struggle through their problem on their own, their wound gradually leaching the joy from their lives. If asked to describe their internal world, they would have said it feels hollow or aching, a feeling of "just trying to get to the next day." Some of these people would gladly give up an arm or a leg to experience renewal of their spirit and to find long-term healing. When you do not have a reason to sing, laugh, or dance, you begin to die - you question whether you have a reason to live. This breaks my heart!
My Story of Being Given a Healing Song
When I started my counseling career, it was out of a conviction that God loves the people of the world so much that his heart constantly breaks for them. As it says in Matthew 9, "When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."
When I was age 15, I was confused, anxious, sad, angry, and hopeless. I was also helplessly addicted to the only thing I felt could help me at that time: marijuana. I was taking risks with my life every week. Somehow in the tumult and roar of my insanity, I found my inner voice and cried out to God, asking him to please spring me out of the trap I was in.
Two weeks later, I woke up in a hospital bed with my entire face plastered in stitches and bandages. After my head cleared, I was told I had just had a near-death car accident due to driving while high. In the three weeks following that awful car crash, I experienced a complete identity crisis, but the amazing thing is I also felt God reaching for me. For the first time, I experienced a revelation of his love for me, eclipsing my bias that he was a distant God. He brought healers into my life - a wonderful licensed therapist named George and a child psychiatrist named Dr. Steve Powers. Both these men loved God and did their best to help my parents - who were not rich - afford treatment. Together with my parents, these men helped me develop the resilience to overcome my addiction to marijuana, fight my ADHD, push past my anxiety, and speak back to my depressive thoughts, plotting a hopeful path into the future.
Healing Songs Scholarship: Help for the Hurting
Despite the fact that God does love everyone, after extensive research, I have not found one church, para-church,or even secular organization whose primary purpose is to collect donations toward helping to those with mental health needs. So, I've decided to start one. It's called Healing Songs Scholarships,
Our Vision: Raising Funds for the Hurting
Our vision is to raise funds to help the thousands of people each year who go without counseling because of lack of funds. Half of the funds donated will be immediately used to offer a scholarship for people who meet the minimum criteria. The other half of the funds will go toward building up a scholarship fund to be large enough to make money for itself. For now, I am the only one who is presiding over this fund, but I want accountability. Hopefully someday soon, an independent agency can be found who will collect and monitor the scholarship. I would also like to make this available to other high-quality, caring therapists, as well, so if you know of any, let me know!
We hope you will get a special reward from contributing today, and God bless!
Click here to contribute to Healing Songs Scholarship.
