Statements
Mission
Mission: To be healing community rooted in Christian tradition supporting each individual's unique path of transformation and well-being while promoting social healing through empathetic connection.
Vision: To heal the world through radical hospitality, inviting every person to reconnect to their true self and find inner freedom rooted in God's transforming grace.
Strategy: To use the unique process of a spiritual small group intervention and holistic health education to impact the overall well-being of the community through initiatives that address specific chronic physical, mental, emotional needs.
Background
Scott Reall was a Senior Wellness Director at the Green Hills Family YMCA in Nashville Tennessee in 1988. Over several years, Scott realized that people were coming to the Y for a fitness routine, trying to make physical changes in their lives, but that no wellness plan in the world would work if a person's underlying spiritual, emotional and mental barriers were not addressed. In 1994, Scott began offering 12-Step groups at the YMCA. Because of the groups' success, Scott won the YUSA's Armstrong Award for his work, which allowed him to attend Covenant Theological Seminary of St. Louis. Scott saw a need for spiritual development to be a permanent part of the YMCA offerings and in 2000, Restore Ministries of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee was founded.
In 2005, renowned Christian publisher Thomas Nelson approached Scott about writing his own series of books. A year later, Journey to Freedom was published as the first of five books in the "Journey Series". This book became the cornerstone for Restore Ministries' small groups. In 2007, the other four books - Journey to a Life of Significance, Journey to Living with Courage, Journey to Healthy Living, and Journey to a New Beginning after a Loss - were also published.
With the growing national and international popularity of the Journey Series and the small group process that accompanies it, Restore Ministries branched out in 2015 to form its own 501c3, focusing on both offering groups and equipping community partners to launch this life-changing curriculum for themselves. Thus, 'RESTORE SMALL GROUPS' was formed!
Journey to Freedom has been translated into Russian, French, German, Ukrainian, and Swahili. Journey to Freedom and Journey to a New Beginning After Loss have both been translated into Spanish. Journey to Freedom has also been adapted for youth, inmates at various jails and prisons, as well as breast cancer survivors. Over 21 years of ministry, Restore has pioneered a high quality, affordable, effective, peer to peer group process where thousands of participants have found hope and healing!
Impact
2021 Impact:
1. By offering virtual groups throughout the pandemic, we served participants in 14 states and 6 countries.
2. We launched our podcast, "Searching Inward" to help open the dialogue around mental, emotional and spiritual health for the community.
3. We solidified our collaborative community partnerships, allowing us to offer in person groups throughout the Middle Tennessee area and make services more accessible.
4. We offered services out of our new office space in downtown Nashville, designed especially for group meetings and group leader trainings. This space is housed within the Faith Family Medical Center building in the heart of the downtown community and easily accessible to participants from all over the area.
5. We finished the final steps in our clinical trial to measure the efficacy of our Journey to Freedom group process in partnership with Saint Thomas Health.
6. We completed a new curriculum aimed at helping breast cancer survivors process their grief and loss as well as work toward a life of well-being. This curriculum was designed in partnership with the After Breast Cancer (ABC) program at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee after working together for a decade to bring hope and healing to women in breast cancer recovery.
2022 Goals:
1. Strengthen our collaborative partnerships in the Nashville community with a focus on healthcare/behavioral health initiatives to impact some of the greatest health needs in the community: depression and anxiety, toxic stress, mental health inequity, diabetes, cancer and chronic illness.
3. Continue to expand our reach, maximizing the use of telehealth to offer small groups in the local community and beyond.
4. Revise and relaunch Journey to Freedom to reflect a more inclusive and expanded approach.
5. Add/improve additional resources for group leaders and participants including a podcast, mental health education, contemplative prayer and change coaching to help break down barriers and stigmas around seeking mental health care and to offer different avenues for engagement in well-being.
Needs
1. To increase our marketing reach in Nashville and beyond, increasing our brand awareness and encouraging people to take advantage of our services.
2. To expand our referral network and work with others to help identify/serve the mental health needs within their membership/client-base.
CEO Statement
As Executive Director of Restore, a longtime advocate of our group process and a group leader, I have seen first-hand how peer to peer support transforms an individual's life. When I began leading groups in 2011, and witnessed the group process "working", I sometimes dismissed it as circumstantial or maybe even "lucky". But after a decade of leading and shepherding groups of individuals from all over the world, I know without a doubt that small group, when offered and protected as a place of equanimity, compassion, safety, and support can change everyone involved. It breaks down barriers, exposes toxic shame, unburdens participants from their worries, secrets, regrets. It collectively carries the weight of grief and loss. It helps members gain clarity around their purpose and goals. At Restore, our two elements of group work together to achieve a positive result. First, we honor a structured process. There can be no healing without safety and intentional care. Our leaders are carefully chosen. They must first experience group and then be trained by Restore staff to hold the space open for grace and understanding. Our leaders know how to build trust, respect confidentiality, and listen well. Second, we use our unique curricula to move participants through a journey that is both specific enough to guide them, but fluid enough that they can apply it each individually. Put together, these create a process that allows group members to learn from one another and gain a new perspective. Over the years, we have seen the many ways that this process can be adapted to needs and communities. More profoundly, we have come to realize that individual holistic health and community well-being hinges on such a process. Our minds and bodies are more connected than we want to believe. And in many instances, the only way for an individual to break through the barriers that keep them stuck in habits, patterns and circumstances that are detrimental to their health, is to examine internally where they have been, who they are, and where they need to go. According to Mental Health America, "Peer support helps people prevent illness, manage chronic illnesses, cope with stress or emotional and psychological challenges, engage those who are poorly reached by health care systems and interventions, and reduces unnecessary care such as multiple hospital admissions for the same problem. Peer support has a humanizing effect on care, and individuals feel their challenges are better understood "(Repper/Carter 2011). We are committed to making group central to impacting community health.
Service Categories |
|
| Primary Category: | Mental Health & Crisis Intervention - Community Mental Health Centers |
| Secondary Category: | Religion- Related - Christianity |
| Tertiary Category: | Social Science - Behavioral Science |
Areas Served
Though we are located in Nashville, Tennessee and do offer in person services, because we also offer virtual, online groups, we are able to serve participants in any location. Through community partners there are additional groups offered in Davidson, Wilson, Williamson, Sumner, Rutherford counties in TN. We have national partners in the states of Washington, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Texas. We have international partners in Kenya, Belize, Ukraine, Scotland and Bosnia
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Montgomery |
| TN - Wilson |
| Statewide |
| National |
| International |
