In This Issue
Family Hope Line
Empathic Therapy Conference
Healing with Heart
 
855-IHOPE4U 
Mother Bear CAN Launches Family Hope Line
 
Our Family Hope Line
(855-446-7348) is a free resource for families in need of hope, support and/or help identifying recovery-oriented mental health resources. 
 

Family Hope Line Hours:

Tuesdays from 2-5 pm

Thursdays  8-11 pm (EDT) 

 

We are currently developing our peer training program so we can expand our hours.

 

For more information, please click here or email us at emily@motherbearcan.org 

 
 


All proceeds from our freshwater Hope Pearls support our family recovery education, support and outreach programs.
Upcoming Conference

Mother Bear CAN is pleased to co-sponsor and present at the 2013 Empathic Therapy Conference in Syracuse, NY on April 26-28.

 

 Click here to register

or visit our
Dear Friends and Families,  

 

Spring is nearly here, but the vestiges of winter remind us that transformation and growth aren't always visible on the surface.

Sometimes in family recovery, it can feel like we are pouring all our hearts and energies into barren ground. But, like Spring's sunshine and rain, heartfelt support and faith in our family members' (and our own) resilience can create fertile ground for life to flourish again.

This Spring, Mother Bear CAN is celebrating new growth as well including our new Family Hope Line and our upcoming interactive, online Family Recovery Course
"Transforming Our Suffering" scheduled to launch in April.

We are also co-sponsoring and presenting at Dr. Peter Breggin's 2013 Empathic Therapy Conference in Syracuse, New York, April 26-28. We look forward to sharing what we learn about healing with the heart - one of the most powerful tools families can use to support recovery and transformation.

We know that all of this growth is not possible without your support. We are a community of growers and, together, we can help our families learn how to thrive.

Wishing you well,

Lisbeth Riis Cooper
Founder and Chief Mother Bear
Healing with the Heart

 

We recently asked our online community of "mother bears" the following question:  

 

"What is empathy and how does it heal?"

   

We received lots of great responses that highlighted the many ways empathy can express itself and be a source of support. 

 

Empathic healing involves simple things like listening without judgment, "being with" (as opposed to fixing) someone who is struggling, offering understanding, mutuality, expressing faith in our innate ability to heal, holding space for healing to happen, seeing beyond the suffering but also validating it, and other heartfelt gestures and attitudes. 

 

What is perhaps most encouraging is that empathy is available to us at any time, even though we may have to work at cultivating it.

 

If we are working with a mental health care provider, we should expect empathy to be a key part of the therapeutic process. But empathy is also something we can give to ourselves and to our families that is of real healing value. 

 

We don't have to wait. Nor should we.