Introducing Refocusing Widows

Refocusing Widows is a faith-based ministry initiative under the umbrella of Fresh Hope for Mental Health. Imagine a kaleidoscope: a slight twist and a beautiful design suddenly blurs. However, with another slight twist, everything comes back into focus in a lovely new design. This describes becoming a widow. Everything suddenly goes out of focus. Because only another widow can truly understand all that's involved, we facilitate peer-to-peer focus groups both online and in person. This is the place where personal growth and refocusing happens. We have created ten refocusing principles that are the foundation of the ministry. Each meeting consists of a discussion time centered around a specific issue of being a widow, followed by a focus activity that helps either to process the grief, or to begin to move forward into a new season. We envision women who have embraced and processed the profound grief associated with the loss of a spouse, discovered their new identity, and leveraged their strengths and gifts so that they are empowered to change the world around them. Our goal is to infuse faith-filled hope into their lives so that they can once again move into a joyful, thriving life. We encourage you to share this podcast with your friends via your social media connections. After listening to this podcast, we encourage you to email us at [email protected] with a comment or question that we will share on our next podcast. If you are listening to this podcast on iTunes, we encourage you to comment on the podcast. Or you can leave a voice message for us on the site: www.FreshHope4MentalHealth.com. Pastor Brad Hoefs, the host of Fresh Hope for Mental Health, is the founder of Fresh Hope Ministries, a network of Christian mental health support groups for those who have a diagnosis and their loved ones. In other words, Fresh Hope is a Christian mental health support group. Brad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1995. He is a weekly blogger for www.bphope.com (Bipolar Magazine). He is also a certified peer specialist and has been doing pastoral counseling since 1985. Brad is also the author of Fresh Hope: Living Well in Spite of a Mental Health Diagnosis, which is available on Amazon or at www.FreshHopeBook.com If you are interested in more information about Fresh Hope, go to www.FreshHope.us or email [email protected] or call 402.932.3089. To donate to Fresh Hope, go to http://freshhope.us/donate/. For a complete list of where Fresh Hope groups are presently meeting, go to www.FreshHope.us and click on "find a group." Or you may attain an online group of meetings of Fresh Hope by going to www.FreshHopeMeeting.com If you are interested in starting a Fresh Hope group within your faith community, contact [email protected]. Fresh Hope for Mental Health is a production of Fresh Hope Ministries. Fresh Hope Ministries is a non-profit ministry. The copyrights of this program belong to Fresh Hope Ministries and may not be duplicated without written permission. All of the podcasts of Fresh Hope Today and numerous other videos are all available on our YouTube channel: Fresh Hope Network. Fresh Hope for Mental Health is on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/FreshHopeforMentalHealth. Check out this episode!