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Kids Become Partners in Their Healing
Process: Active engagement builds self-esteem and expedites recovery
Christopher Reising knew that sick
kids stuck in a sterile hospital need more than cute stuffed animals to help
them cope. But it wasn't until taking Landmark's community-based program that he
decided to take action - giving kids tools that might further their engagement
with their own healing process.
“Through Landmark, I saw a way that I could
move my life forward and contribute to kids,” Reising says. “One of the concepts
that really stuck with me is the notion of ‘Be! Do! Have!'—that when you are in
a particular state, the doingness and the havingness can follow suit.”
Shortly after completing The Landmark Forum,
Reising founded CHERP (Children's Hospital Education Recovery Program), an
organization that uses interactive songs, reading, and other multimedia to help
sick children learn to ask questions of doctors and nurses about their
condition, and stay healthy after leaving the hospital. People hear a lot about pro-bono legal work and free medical care for the poor, but the necessity for free dental care is often overlooked. Grossman says that's a mistake. "Dental pain saps energy, concentration, and drive,” he notes. “Unsightly or missing teeth turn off potential employers - this can perpetuate the vicious cycle of homelessness.”
“When each child sees that they can
participate in the communication process, it raises their self-esteem, and
allows them to be actively engaged in the healing process,” Reising explains.
“Their recovery is more of a partnership. The partnership and increased
self-esteem coupled with medication and treatment expedites healing.”
In its first three years, CHERP helped thousands of American kids learn how to
proactively participate in their healing and recovery. Now the program has gone
beyond the United States. “Title & Messages,” a series of CHERP-produced books,
has been translated into 12 languages. “Our mission,” Reising says, “is no less
than to help children around the world learn the value and worth of
participating in their own health and recovery. We teach them
self-esteem-building messages that will help them communicate with their
healers.”
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