August 2020

Insights into the Mission of Helping Hurting Hearts

How to Practice Choosing Your Heart
Living from our heart and practicing will help us live in love

Co-Founder of Discovering MErcy

I just got back from a trip to Walmart. That’s a new thing for me since the COVID-19 lockdown in March. I have been purchasing everything online and having it delivered to the house. I have similar orders, but I’m not sure how this one lone item is not able to be shipped. I received an email notifying me that it was ready for pick up.

PICK UP!!! NO!!

Walmart requires masks!

I don’t wear masks.

Now, don’t start!! This isn’t a statement of a stance entering a battle between the mask and no mask. Hang in there, this is a story about my heart and living out of my heart NOT to make a statement but to stand with my heart. Stay with my story…

I have watched the world go mad in the last 5 months. Fear, anxiety, uncertainty, deaths, life’s breath narrowed, futures toppled because of losing businesses, dreams dashed. I’ve witnessed front line workers tossed to and fro, rules changing for a job deemed unsafe even though their job is critical in providing services that are essential. I watched them grow weary trying to keep up with the ever-changing flow of information on how they can stay safe. Meanwhile, they watched their neighbors collect unemployment making more money then they were…

Every perspective of every person was out of protection!

Humanity is underseige!

Chaos!

I watched. It is like watching life trying to happen… (continue reading on our blog)

why masks are difficult for trauma survivors

Why Wearing Masks is Difficult
for Trauma Survivors

by Audrey

Co-Founder of Discovering MErcy

In these unsettling times, the controversy between those that wear a mask and those that can not wear a mask can become quite heated in public. As an advocate for survivors of severe childhood trauma, I’d like to bring a viewpoint of survivors regarding the mask controversy.

Kate Russell, the national spokesperson for Rape Crisis England and Wales states, “A significant proportion of rape survivors had their mouths or noses covered, or were choked or smothered, as part of the abuse and violence they experienced. Covering their face and nose now can trigger flashbacks, panic attacks, and severe anxiety.” A number of rape and sexual abuse survivors have told the charity Rape Crisis they are so scared of being confronted and verbally abused for not wearing face masks that they are avoiding places where they may be challenged. Read "Survivors Say They Are Being Stigmatized For Not Wearing Masks"

During the last several months since the start of COVID-19, the Discovering MErcy team has had multiple conversations with survivors both individually and in a group forum regarding wearing masks. The consensus has been, masks cause survivors a great deal of anxiety and panic. For some, it has also been unsettling to see masses of people wearing them in public, unable to see other people's faces to know they are safe or in danger. The emotional distress and body memories associated with wearing a mask are real for survivors of sexual abuse.

Discovering MErcy is not weighing in on whether or not to wear a mask during the COVID-19 outbreak, we are simply providing information to understand a survivor's viewpoint.

Read: Tips for Survivors that May Find Face Coverings Distressing

Travel in the times of COVID-19 Outbreak

The Lengths a Survivor takes During COVID-19 Outbreak for Counseling Time

Without our generous supporters, we would not be able to help women like Barbara* this month.

Barbara is a wonderful and ingenious survivor who has received scholarship funds from the Fearless Love Scholarship directly because of your financial support. Because of COVID-19, she is unable to fly directly to the United States for her week of intensive ministry.

She is flying out of Western Europe, to Central Europe, where she will quarantine in for 14 days. Then she will fly into Philadelphia to come for her ministry intensive, where she will also quarantine here prior to her intensive time. Survivors who are committed to receiving counseling are the survivors we absolutely can’t wait to connect with so that the chains of bondage from her past can be set free.

The Fearless Love Scholarship Program focuses on improving the emotional, spiritual, and social well-being of the most vulnerable survivors. To learn about the type of hearts we have helped in the past, read our testimonies.

IS COUNSELING AND INTENSIVES HAPPENING DURING COVID MONITORING?

Yes, the Discovering MErcy home is open and we are actively counseling and scheduling intensives right now via video conferencing and in person. Our county is in the "Green Phase" as Pennsylvania continues to monitor public health indicators. If you have questions or are interested in scheduling services, please contact us.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR THE FEARLESS LOVE SCHOLARSHIP?

If you have already been seen or have had an introductory session with Discovering MErcy and would like to apply for possible financial assistance for additional counseling, please email us for more information.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT TRAUMA CARE?

Here are 9 ways you can help today. Thank you for Donating to the Fearless Love Scholarship Program!

*pseudonym

Your Inside Peek of Our First Course of Curriculum!

What we have learned is this mystery of being human and living as a follower of Jesus is that life is totally a heart thing. And that is what Discovering MErcy’s Foundational Counseling Course is all about—to help students learn how to connect with their hearts and understand who the Creator of the Universe is and how He designed each student so they can become a Follower of Jesus. This course will teach students how to:

How to recognize and define the Language of your Heart
The difference between whole-hearted living and living with your heart defended
The importance of emotions and how they affect the WHOLE you
How to recognize your own emotional capacity and your “go-to default” protective patterns
Tools for evaluating and exploring behavior (especially fear vs. love, stress vs. relaxed)
How to identify shame as a motivator/demotivator
The crucial role of (and need for) attachment in relationships
How to identify and deal with powerlessness
How it all connects: Brain, Beliefs, Emotions & Behavior!

We are 75% to completion, and getting close to that ultimate finish line! We hope to provide more news on when the first course is available in our next newsletter. With your generous gift of supporting curriculum development, our vision of implementing the first course could exist as early as Spring 2021.

Support Trauma Care

Did You Know? The Brain in Isolation

The absence of human contact is associated with declines in cognitive function. But as the COVID-19 pandemic brings concerns about the potential harms of isolation, researchers are still hunting for concrete evidence of a causal role as well as possible mechanisms.

For information about this story and how the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala works, read TheScientist's "How Social Isolation Affects the Brain" .

To understand what isolation does for survivors living with brain trauma read "COVID-19 Welcomes the World to Brain Injury-Type Isolation"

For evidence-based brain health information, check out Dr. Daniel Amen's Brain Health blog.

"You Matter to Me"

The Discovering MErcy team heard this song and wanted to pass it along to our community because no matter what is happening in our world, YOU MATTER to US!

Enjoy the song and thanks for your continued support! 💜

Love,

Fern & Audrey

P.S. For questions about Discovering MErcy, send us a note!

Support Trauma Care

P.O. Box 363 | Walnutport, PA | 18088 United States

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