In discussing resilience, Margaret Thatcher said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” The battle our world is fighting with this pandemic is one we never expected to fight. In spite of the difficulties this year, it also shines bright with hope, perseverance, and resilience.

This year at House of Hope, unwavering resilience has been seen in our operations, our staff, our patients, and our faithful donors. At the onset of the COVID pandemic, our management team got into action. Decades of providing services primarily in person had to be revisited and reconfigured to allow for the provision of these services safely. The difficult decision had to be made: do we close and leave our patients in need of these dire services (this was never really an option) or do we create, overnight, a telehealth system that will keep both our patients and staff safe? I can assure you we never closed. Instead, our agency rose to the challenge and honor of being called essential workers. Our staff also exhibited amazing resilience this year.

Despite the panic that ensued at the onset of the COVID pandemic, they were called to put their own fears aside while encouraging and calming anxious patients. They went from spending years refining the art of counseling face-to-face to having to master overnight the ability to create engagement and buyin over a computer monitor. They had to adjust and find ways to recreate the magic of the therapeutic relationship through the impersonal and often off-putting computer screen.

And the resilience we have seen in our patients is like no other! Not only have they continued to strive for recovery while dealing with the wreckage of their past, working to reunite with family, and healing from years of abuse and trauma, but they have done it amidst the uncertainty and anxieties of the pandemic. That is resilience at its core.

And our donors? What can we say, but THANK YOU! Thank you that despite the uncertainty of your own health and finances, you continue to give. Thank you for rising above the anxiety and worry, and for continuing to sow seeds of hope at House of Hope. Thank you for modeling resilience and resolve for all to see.

As this year comes to a close, I pray we rejoice in the victories of yesterday, reflect on the preciousness of today, and resolve to show resilience as we face tomorrow. From our family to yours, may health and peace abound.