Soaring Spirits Resilience Center Opens
28/10/2017
Michele Neff Hernandez, executive director for Soaring Spirits International.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while you may remember that I’ve spoken at a couple of Camp Widow® programs. They are amazing gatherings of widowed people who want to focus on moving forward in their lives while honoring their spouses who have passed.
Carrie West, Ph.D. is a young widow who regularly speaks at these programs on the topic of resilience. She’s on the board of Soaring Spirits International (SSI) which produces Camp Widow® and she’s an assistant professor at Schreiner University.
Dr. West approached the university about conducing a research project which involved collecting data from the widowed people who attend the programs.
Soaring Spirits International (SSI) and opened the Soaring Spirits Resilience Center at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas on Friday, October 20th. The center will provide practical tools based on her resilience research to the population of widowed people who are working through grief.
The Resilience Center, the first center of its kind in the U.S., will focus primarily on grief and resilience.
“Our hope is that through the Center a variety of grieving populations will be served; and that the Center’s resources and tools for building resilience through any of life’s challenges will benefit Schreiner students, as well as the broader community,” said Michele Neff Hernandez, executive director for Soaring Spirits International.
If you or someone you know is recently widowed there are free resources available at www.SoaringSpirits.org.
What about you?
- Have you found yourself more resilient than you expected while grieving?
- Do you have tips to share with others?
- Do you need some resources to help you get through the day?
As always, you can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or at www.MyraMcElhaney.com. My memoir, Building A Life You Love After Losing the Love of Your Life is available on Amazon.com or you can contact me at Myra@MyraMcElhaney.com for a signed, personalized copy.
Resilience and Relationships
09/05/2017
“When asked to list an emergency contact number, how many of you have to stop and think about whose name and number to write down?”
Hands shot up all around the room when I asked this question at a recent conference break-out session. We were at Camp Widow™ and my program on “From Sorrow to Social” was filled with recently widowed men and women. Read the rest of this entry »
Hope, Resilience and Research
02/05/2017
Two widows walk into a hotel…
Sounds like the start of a joke, right? No joke here.
When Michele Neff Hernandez was widowed as a young woman she started Camp Widow™ and Soaring Spirits International so other widows, of any age, would have a place to focus on rebuilding their lives. Carrie West, another young widow was doing her Ph.D. research on resilience so the two teamed up. Read the rest of this entry »
A camp for widows and widowers?
04/03/2016
When Michele Neff Hernandez was widowed at a young age and couldn’t find a community of widows who wanted to focus on moving forward she created one. From that first, small gathering of widows and widowers Camp Widow® has grown into three weekend long events. Read the rest of this entry »
Recreating Joy 