Dear Friends,
In my living room is a vase full of white tulips. This bouquet of sun-filled white tulips represent hope to me—something which may feel in short supply in this incredibly challenging time.
Yet hope is not in short supply at the Wendt Center.
And while the ways in which we are currently delivering that hope are a bit different, it remains at the very center of what we do. We stand committed to be a source of hope to our clients, our supporters, and to the community throughout this crisis.
While the Wendt Center offices are closed, we are serving our community in new and innovative ways.
- We have moved to providing virtual services. This past week was our first week providing teletherapy and we served nearly 75% of our clients!
- For those of you missing our fabulous trainings, we will be offering webinars to replace our in-person workshops.
- We are teaching parents and caregivers grounding techniques to use when kids or grownups find themselves feeling emotionally overwhelmed.
- We are posting tip sheets and articles on our website specific to this new challenge we are facing as a society.
- We are continuing to offer short-term sessions to those experiencing acute suffering.
But the Wendt Center has never settled for “business as usual” in the face of a crisis. We did not sit on the sidelines of the AIDS epidemic, or the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or the Navy Yard shooting.
And we are not sitting on the sidelines now.
Members of our team are already stepping up and showing up in remarkable ways. The Wendt Center will be working with our medical partners to offer pro bono emotional support to front line professionals caring for the sick. We want to be sure that our medical caregivers have someone caring for them, and we would be honored to have that someone be us — the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing .
We also know that this pandemic has created a financial crisis for many in our community. Our plan is to provide free or low-cost emotional support to our neighbors who have lost their jobs in the wake of this crisis: restaurant workers, bartenders, baristas, retailers. So many are affected and hurting, and we — the Wendt Center — will be there for them.
We have an abundance of hope.
While I can’t bring white tulips into all of your living rooms, the Wendt Center can bring the hope that they symbolize. If you are able to help support our hope and healing work during this crisis and beyond, I thank you.
Please take care of yourself, those you love, and those you don’t even know. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are a community!
Always,
Michelle Palmer, LICSW
Executive Director