Community Recovery

At Warm Hearth, we reach for and believe in mutually transforming relationships, where the harsh divides between resident and staff, insider and outsider, healthy and ill, can fall away. 

We believe that our residents have just as much (or more) to give our staff, supporters and friends as they receive.  Whether at Warm Hearth or otherwise, it is in the crucible of daily life that we are transformed.  It is in the daily acts of giving and receiving, doing the dishes, hanging the laundry, writing a letter, and bathing or being bathed. 

As we learn to accept ourselves and those around us, we open up to the possibility of integration. 

What we want most for our residents is to be welcomed into the daily life and fabric of their community.  We want them to function with grace in their neighborhood and city according to the gifts they have been given.

In order for this to happen, the community (and we are all a part of one) must strive to live with people of all bents and shapes, colors and abilities.  And not only must we learn to live with, but we must put aside fear and  commit ourselves to living with the reality of difference, of suffering, of forgiveness and grace. 

At Warm Hearth, we do not just look for individual recovery whether that be from loneliness, mental illness, or a bout of disassociation.  We look, simultaneously, and just as importantly, for community recovery.

Community recovery is hard work, but it is something we all can do, both here and there, both within and without.  And it is a gift to all people -- including our beloved residents who live in 3rd Village and Arinj and have a hearth to call their own that is covered with art work, and coffee cups, embroidered handkerchiefs and little tiny houses (pictured right) that the residents have lovingly crafted out of clay. 

Let us all attend to this work wherever we live.  Let us speak out in defense of people all the world over who struggle with mental illnesses.  Let us speak out in defense of people all the world over who have diverse abilities and special needs.  Let us speak out in defense of people all the world over who are the minority, the oppressed, the confused.  In this way, we uphold the values and work of Warm Hearth. 

In this way, we uphold Davit, Hasmik, Susanna, Anna, Davo, Arsen, Roman, Alina, Gayane, Yulia, Anahit, Agappy, Armine and Sassoon.  We uphold Artur and Arame, Armen, Hatch, Kristine, Natasha, Janna and Gohar.  We uphold Nazeli, Fatima, Siranoush, Roza, Diana, Edita, and Bavakan.  Their names are a part of a symphony that wants to be witnessed and celebrated.  Their names want to be spoken and heard.  Thank you for hearing their names.  Thank you for speaking out.