The Power of Hope and Dreams!

Those that know me know that I often talk about the vulnerabilities that put someone at a higher risk of being trafficked. And while it is important to understand that concept, I have recently changed the way I end my training sessions. Now I end with examples of best practices in our region.

Just to name a few, we have Jackson City Schools Community Partners, multiple county programs like OhioSTART and Handle with Care, our many multi-disciplinary teams throughout the region, our Athens and Perry County CPS School Outreach programs, the myriads of programs the Appalachian Children Coalition is undertaking and SO VERY MANY others! Two coalitions say it all: the Gallia HOPE Coalition and the Athens HOPE Coalition. Though these are acronyms, they, and so many other programs in SE Ohio, represent what I have found to be so very prevalent in our region – HOPE!

Every meeting and every collaboration is filled with individuals who are hopeful they will have a positive impact on those that are the most vulnerable. Because it is human trafficking prevention month, because those that are trafficked often find it hard to hope and dream, and because you all exemplify that spirit of hope in the region, I wanted to share a few resources that may help you help those you serve better understand and embrace that feeling of hope as well!

The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio has been studying hope. Recently, in an effort with their Growing Home Fellows – a group of 100+ youth leaders in the K-12 sector, published a Well-Being Toolkit. https://appalachianohio.org/about/our-goals/the-science-of-hope/ . It includes an amazing array of ways to cultivate hope and resilience. I am a fan of Hope Mapping on page 8,  WOOP it up on page 16 and Hope Huddles on page 41. These ideas can be used both with those you serve and within your agency as well!

To follow up on the “mapping” idea, there are several other good options. They go by different names and have slightly different ways to get to the point, but they all lead to the same place…

Dream Mapping https://gitmind.com/dream-map.html  helps envision a future for aspects of one’s personal or professional life. I like that it makes the planning visual. No need to try to put things in words, just draw pictures or cut out scenes from magazines that give you something to hope for and work towards in the future! Sometimes you hear this in terms of mind maps or vision boards. Check out https://lifegoalsmag.com/visually-plan-future/ and https://www.advancetheseed.org/blog/mapping-your-future-why-vision-boards-are-key-to-strategic-growth respectively. Other times you will see it called Treasure Mapping mindtools.com/ansbhwc/treasure-mapping . 

No matter what it is called, the idea is to help someone picture a future where there is hope! These games, maps and boards can help someone that may feel they don’t have a future dare to dream about it and actually put steps in place to achieve it!

January is the perfect time to think about what future you want to help shape – for those you serve, yourself, your team or your community. I know that future is full of hope!

Christi Scott Bartman, MPA, JD, PhD

Founder, Eyes Up Appalachia

Eyesupappalachia.org