- Thank you for joining us today. Just an incredible opportunity to really think about things in a little bit different way. So, early on here with the Department of Humans Services it was clear to me that we all bring a certain amount of trauma to the organization, those that we serve, there's trauma really in our communities and the understanding of the science behind trauma is critically important. And every time we think about that it makes so much sense; however, what's really important is what we do with that, how we move forward, there's just an unbelievable amount of research being done nationwide and worldwide around the science of hope, which we believe is the antidote for higher levels of trauma in our communities. So, it's been an incredible honor for me to have the opportunity to work with Doctor Chan Hellman in understanding the science of hope and really building hopeful practices within the Department of Human Services. We have this just incredible opportunity to really understand the science of hope in a better way, in a different way, and to really breed hope within ourselves and within those that we serve. So, this is a great opportunity for the next handful of minutes to really understand hope in a different and better way, to continue to build relationships with one another that build and provide hope for those that we serve. So, without further ado, I'm gonna introduce Doctor Chan Hellman here, so Chan Hellman is a professor of social work at the University of Oklahoma, and Director of the Hope Research Center. He's written more than 150 scientific publications and has presented at numerous national and international conferences worldwide. Chan's research is focused on hope as a psychological strength, helping children and adults overcome trauma and adversity. Chan is the co-author of the award winning book Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life, with his co-author Casey Gwinn, publish by Morgan James. So, it's important to take the time and really dig in deep and understand hope here. Our agency is committed to becoming the largest ever hope centered organization, really building hope in those that we serve. So without any further ado, I will turn it over to Doctor Chan Hellman, thanks for being here.

- Thank you very much, Justin. And what an honor it is for me to get to be part of this journey with your organization. So, I'm gonna jump into explaining hope and the science and power of hope. So, share my screen. So, the first thing that we'll talk about is the definition of hope, and first of all, hope is the belief that your future will be better than today, and that you have the power to make it so. What's important about this definition is first of all, that hope is a belief, it is not a feeling, not an emotion, but a way of thinking. And if we just stopped with the first part of that definition, hope is the belief that your future will be better than today, that is optimism. It's the last part of this definition that is so critical to understanding what we mean by hope, that you have the power to make it so means that hope is about action, taking action to achieve your future goals. When we think about hope, it is comprised of these three main components: goals, pathways and willpower. Goals become the focus, the cornerstone of hope. Goals could be in the short term or the long term, but the critical aspect is that the goal must be valued by the individual. After we understand the goals, hope is comprised of our ability to identify the mental road maps, or the strategies, by which to achieve those goals. We refer to this as pathways thinking. Pathways thinking also includes our ability to think about potential barriers, and to begin to find solutions when we experience those. And then finally, willpower is the mental energy that we have to pursue our pathways. Willpower is really the motivational force that allows us to begin the journey of the pathways to our better future. Now, both pathways and willpower are required to be hopeful. So it may be that an individual is highly motivated for the goals that they desire, but they don't have the pathways or the strategies to get there. So, in that case we consider that individual to be lower in hope. Now alternatively, it may be that the individual has the pathways, or the strategies to achieve the goals, they're just not motivated to do that work. Again, this would be lower hope. So both willpower and way power are required for hope. So what I'd like for you to do is just think about all of the ways we use the word hope everyday in our language. I hope that it doesn't rain today, I hope that you're well, I hope that you have a great day. And hope is comprised of both goals, willpower and pathways, and so when we think about the way that we've used hope in the past, what we really mean is a wish. And it's important that when we start to understand this language of hope that we distinguish hope from a wish. A wish is when we have the desire for the goal, we just don't have the strategies or the way to control the outcome. So remember that hope is about action, it's about taking steps to pursue your future. Now one of the things that we've been very interested in in this work is trying to understand how trauma, both childhood trauma and trauma across the life span influenced the way we think about hope, or our own ability to be hopeful. So, when we think about attention, that is our willpower, where do we focus our mental energy? What we know is that we're usually either thinking about the future or reflecting upon the past. Rarely are any of us present in the current moment. Most of the time, we tend to be future oriented. However, what our research shows is that when we have a higher incidence of trauma, we tend to be thinking about the past or the future in a negative framework. And so, if we're thinking about the future in a negative framework, we tend to be worrying about the future, or ruminating in the past. And again, higher levels of trauma are associated with this negative attention. Now, what happens is that people who spend more time worrying about the future, or ruminating on the past, they're more likely to be suffering, so experiencing negative emotions, struggling with their coping strategies, having difficult social relationships. Now in a positive framework, we think about the future in a hopeful way, or reflect on the past from nostalgia. Individuals who are able to think about the future or the past in a positive way are more likely to flourish. So in the work that we do, we have to find ways to interrupt the rumination and worry among those individuals who have experienced trauma and adversity. So, if we think about how goals, pathways and willpower work together, let's imagine that we have identified this desirable goal that we have, and out of all of the potential pathways, we've identified one that we're gonna go down. And our first few steps in trying to achieve this goal, that is, beginning to pursue the benchmarks, we do so with a little bit of lack of confidence because we've not experienced this before, but as we gain confidence and as we begin to experience success, then what we've learned is that hope begets hope. So we have to set those strategies or those opportunities for clients to have short term early success because it's that success that allows the future to become possible. Now, what happens is, as we begin to experience those successful pathway pursuits, our confidence grows, we start to see that the future is possible; however, what has happened in times of trauma and uncertainty, for instance, in the current time with this COVID, our pathways are now interrupted, and we're not sure how we're going to achieve those pathways. What we've learned is that higher hope individuals are able to revise those pathways, are able to find these alternative strategies by which to regain the pathway pursuit to achieve their goals. So the question becomes, how well can we manage our willpower during this process? So what we've learned is that higher hope individuals are gonna be much better at finding these alternative pathways, but individuals who have lower hope are going to struggle with this piece, that is, they're going to experience this barrier and not be able to find very many strategies to overcome these adversities. Now I usually like to think about hope as this idea of goals, pathways and willpower, that is the essence of our ability to be hopeful. So the question becomes, what is the opposite of hope? And so when I usually ask this question, what is the opposite of hope? The first response that I usually get is this idea of despair, and that makes perfect sense; however, in this language of hope, the opposite of hope is actually apathy, and apathy is when the outcome has already been decided, that is, no matter what I do, I'm going to fail. So what I've learned is there's no sense even trying. So, apathy is the opposite of hope. Despair on the other hand is still part of hope, that is, I still desire the outcome, it's just that my pathways are blocked. And what I'd ask you to do is to think about this idea of despair and think about your experiences at work or in your own personal life of where you've experienced or seen despair and more importantly, where you've seen desperation, because in despair time becomes urgent. Whatever is going to happen, has to happen now. The good news that we know how to nurture hope, that is, hope can be taught, it is something that can be learned, and we know how to do this process. And in the coming days, months, and years, we're gonna be developing strategies that use this process to nurture hope, not only with clients, but internally to the staff as well. And it starts with this idea of setting clarifying goals. When we set our goals, it increases our willpower and our mental energy that the future is possible. So that's when we can begin to look for these viable pathways. Now, I am a big fan, once we identify the viable pathways, that we spend a little bit of time thinking about creating future memories of success. That is celebrating what success is gonna look like, what it's gonna feel like, and how others in our lives are gonna be impacted by us achieving the goals that we set. We know how to do this process, and we're gonna be developing and testing strategies that use this process, this known process of nurturing hope because in 2000 published studies, what we've learned is that hope is the single best predictor of our capacity to thrive. And so, it's an honor to be part of this journey with you, to learn about hope and I'm just super excited to be part of this. So I'll turn it over back to Director Brown.

- Thank you very much Doctor Hellman. So if this is your first time to ever hear about hope or the science of hope, it's okay to get excited. This is really great stuff. So, I tell you, I have been, over the last six or eight months, I really had the opportunity to understand more about this, to really dig deeper into hope and the science of hope and I cannot tell you how excited I get personally as I hear more about it, and I think about how we can build hopeful practices within our organization. So, I wanted to say thank you for joining. We are becoming the largest ever hope centered organization and are extremely excited about the opportunity to do so. There will be lots of things that come out around goal setting and pathway building and willpower and agency, those things that are the critical and essential elements of hope as we more forward. So, keep your eye out for those. I appreciate everybody being on this call. Doctor Hellman and your team, it's an honor to go on this journey with you. So, with that I just say thank you, looking forward to the next time we get together and the opportunity to continue to build hope for those that we serve.