Healing Hurt People Chicago helps people who are violently injured when they enter the hospital and out in the community to help individuals, families, and loved ones recover from trauma, navigate the medical journey, and facilitate the necessary steps to successfully re-enter the community.
We are building and fostering emotional safety so that the individual also feels a sense of physical safety. It’s very important in the therapeutic relationship. We talk a lot about being trauma informed, but it’s truly about promoting post traumatic growth, resiliency in our participants, and helping to keep the motivation going when the systems that surround them keep trying to hinder that.
We Meet People Where They Are
HHPC begins at the hospital bedside. Hospitals are scary places, and patients often have intense emotional and practical needs. They are in pain and have to manage conversations with doctors, family and friends, all while worrying about the future.
The time immediately following a violent injury can also be dangerous, a time when people are more likely to commit further violence out of retribution or stress. This can create a cycle of trauma, stress, and violence.
But the time following a violent injury can also be a golden hour – an opportunity to break the cycle of violence, re-examine priorities, and get the necessary support for positive growth. We want to make this opportunity possible, no matter where someone is in their life’s journey.
We Engage Beyond the Hospital
Going home after a traumatic injury can be difficult. Sometimes we forget that our minds impact our bodies, but trauma goes beyond the wounds we can see. Coping with trauma is about healing from both the emotional and physical experiences of being harmed.
The majority of people with violent injuries have already experienced other traumatic events. When someone has experienced a series of traumatic events over time, it is called complex trauma. This can make life difficult even when the physical wounds have healed, and our team of clinicians specializes in this kind of trauma.
We Advocate within Larger Systems
Our participants navigate complicated, and often violent, systems. On a daily basis, our team confronts practices and policies that are harmful, and advocates side-by-side with participants to have their needs met.
Vision & Values
We envision a world with pathways to healing, trauma-informed healthcare and social systems, and repair to issues in communities that lead to violence. When our vision is realized, we will be closer to living in a city free of gun violence.
Pathways to healing
Pathways to healing built on relationships, free of stigma, and assume that thriving is a birthright.
Healthcare and social service systems
Healthcare and social service systems that acknowledge and treat trauma as a result of multigenerational, historical, and structural violence.
Justice and repair
Justice and repair for the inequitable conditions that lead to violence in communities.
Our Beliefs
We believe in a future for all, participant-driven care, holistic support, medical advocacy, and accountability.
A future for all
Everyone deserves a future that includes safety, respect, and dignity.
The power of connection
Human relationships are vital sources of healing. When we know our neighbors, we have greater empathy for, and less fear of, others.
Participant-driven care
Those we serve are experts in their lives and decide what they need.
Holistic support
Understanding the implications of trauma to the body, spirit, mind, and social self. We care for our participants both as individuals and as community members.
Medical advocacy
We hold ourselves responsible for disrupting medical injustice regarding access to care, as well as the provision of respectful care for those marginalized by oppression such as poverty, racism, trans and/or homophobia, and anti-immigrant bias.
Accountability
We are responsible for providing services to program participants in a timely, thorough, and ethical manner.
