Expansion News from The WellHouse
Chief Development Officer
Hello everyone! My name is Holly and I serve in development at The WellHouse. My last four years of working in this ministry have brought countless blessings, life lessons, and true joy celebrating the women and girls we serve who overcome so much. Daily, I am grateful for this gift.
It seems we are often communicating about expansion at The WellHouse. Our goal is constantly evaluating our program and service offerings to survivors, so that we can help more and help better. This is truly our practice, all the time! One of these pieces is sustainable employment opportunity through our work therapy program, ShopWell. We have always known and understood the potential revenue impact of the business of ShopWell, and always wanted to expand it to offer more work capacity for more residents. A few years ago, we intentionally set out on this endeavor, and our ShopWell Director has now led us to a completely new level! At this point, we have outgrown our ShopWell workspace, which is an exciting challenge.
Another expansion piece is our Trauma Therapy Department. Our residents come to The WellHouse carrying unimaginable amounts of trauma, and it is essential we meet them equipped with excellent, trauma-focused, qualified therapists who facilitate true healing. I am proud to say our therapy team is just this, and it has also expanded with additional effective therapists and modalities.
And so, earlier this year, The WellHouse embarked upon another building construction project. The WellHouse Barn construction is underway! We are calling this building The WellHouse Barn because it will look like a barn and fit well with our campus rural aesthetic; however, it will not house any animals, yet. It will hold our new ShopWell Studio, with room to continue growing the business, enhance the Apprentice work experience, and provide further advancement opportunities for our residents. This ShopWell Studio will be a space that is specifically curated for ShopWell Apprentice success.
The Barn will also hold our new Therapy Suite - office space for our amazing Therapy Department to conduct trauma therapy sessions with clients on their road to healing, and positioning this important team in a central location. This will also be the home base for our on-campus therapy dogs, Goldie and Precious! So I guess there will be a couple of animals in the barn at times! ☺ Additionally, The Barn will house a multipurpose room for various programming activities like fitness, nutrition, gardening, and other large group, volunteer-led initiatives that vitally improve our residents’ experience at The WellHouse.
One of my favorite things about working at The WellHouse, and in my role specifically, is the honor and privilege of witnessing a community of supporters give freely and cheerfully to the survivors who live on our campus. It has been said that Birmingham is one of the most philanthropic cities in the country, and I never imagined what a blessing it would be to sit at this vantage point and see the huge hearts of the people who make that true.
The generosity of WellHouse supporters who give time, talents, and resources has been a sincere encouragement and inspiration to me personally. The Lord uses every single gift, which all come together as a total, to further The WellHouse mission and facilitate healing and independence in the lives of survivors. The Barn building project has been no exception, as different sources of funding to cover the cost of construction are being realized and has been one more account of God’s faithfulness and provision. We have some more to raise, and because of the provision and generosity that has already been so clearly present my faith is strengthened and I believe it will happen. It is incredible!
When we put the stories of survivors from The WellHouse down on paper in the book She Is Safe, it was very difficult to recount the pain and despair that women had endured that no human should ever have to live through. But, there was also true testimony of hope, redemption, and restoration in each story. I love my job because I deeply care about our residents and their success. To me, that means helping to make a lasting impact on their eternity, and getting them to a place of certainty that trafficking is never again in their future. When things gets difficult for me, I remind myself of the hardships our residents have experienced which brings total perspective, and I know that it is amid the difficulty when we grow.
We are in a fight with forces seen but definitely also unseen. It absolutely takes an army on multiple fronts to band together to make a difference. Sometimes I feel the words thank you are not quite enough, but to all who have ever been a part of the work at The WellHouse, honestly, thank you. If you wish to join but have not yet, please contact me, because there will always be a place for you on our team!