Philosophy of Care

Our philosophy of care is a commitment to promote H.E.A.L.T.H through and within all of our activities and interactions.  H.E.A.L.T.H is composed of: Healing and restoration, Excellence, Access, Learning and research, Thamani, and Humility.

Healing and Restoration

We believe that healing and restoration requires a holistic view of the person that includes an integration of factors such as: context and environment, individual characteristics, systems of oppression and injustice, culture, spirituality and religion, biology, and relationships.

We live this out by considering how these factors affect and are affected by everything we do, striving to continue to learn more about the intersectionality of these factors in our lives and the lives of those we interact with, celebrating and respecting diversity across these factors, and examining the systems that may be inhibiting people and communities from mental wellness.

Excellence

We believe that what we do, we do as an act of worship to God; and as such, we desire to bring God our very best and to do all things with excellence.

We live this out by using best practices, being intentional in choosing what activities to engage in and who to partner with, having systems of accountability, conducting our business with integrity and transparency, using evidence-based practices and measuring the outcome of activities and interventions, and emphasizing ethical and moral guidelines for staff and partners.

Access

We believe that all people - regardless of who they are, where they live, or their ability to pay – deserve access to the highest quality of mental health care.

We live this out by providing free and reduced-fee services, offering a sliding-scale, partnering with like-minded organizations within Chicago and abroad, and conducting training and research in low-access areas locally and internationally.

We believe that true excellence requires one to take a posture of continual learning. 

We live this out by approaching all interactions with others as though that person has something valuable to teach us, providing training and learning opportunities for clinicians and the community, seeking and providing supervision and consultation, engaging in and providing continuing education opportunities, doing research, and relying on the research of others to inform our activities.

Thamani means worth, value, or price in Swahili.  We believe that all humans are created in the image and likeness of God and have inherent, inexhaustible value and worth. 

We live this out by interacting with all people as though they are priceless and invaluable; and by removing the barriers that may prevent people from recognizing their inherent worth and value and the worth and value of all other humans.

We believe that humility allows us to engage more authentically and wholly with God, the world, and ourselves. 

We live this out by putting God first, leading from behind, listening first and listening well, suspending judgement, forgiving quickly, acknowledging that we (and the people we interact with) will make mistakes and will disappoint, having compassion for ourselves and others, recognizing our strengths and our weaknesses, collaborating and consulting with others who may have more expertise in an area than we do, admitting when we don’t have the answers, and asking for help when we need it.