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TEDx Talks
Published: 2017-09-06
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrQDISnVC9M
every plant Friday the day after thanksgiving I wake up and think about Clea clear was aghast at my nonprofit about four years ago one out of thousands of homeless men the every cleo came to us after spending much of his adult life in prison and he struggled from substance abuse and mental health cleo love to speak at our events he had a white turtleneck he looked
particularly sharp then any talked about issues that were important to him issues like face and struggle an addiction and the hope that something better for him was just around the bend cleo fought its demands day after day month after month until finally they overtook him cleo was found face down on the side of the road was only our business card in his back pocket as identification
by the time the hospital called he was on life support his skin cool to the touch he died that day surrounded by tubes instead of family just another homeless man fallen victim to the street working with the homeless or any marginalized population is a study in dichotomy are very jobs for the most part are to help people in their darkest of times seek resources and support
sometimes the resources don't even possess people think that nonprofit workers do all of this because of the emotional payoff at the end of the day after all nonprofit work is all about giving and giving makes you feel good so why wouldn't workers be happy no profit workers are also pretty good at putting their feelings aside as well after all positivity is the Lynch pin for the
success of our clients are agencies and so we put on a smiling face in order to make the best out of the situations were given you know herein lies the dark side of nonprofit work sat a recent study done of over two thousand nonprofit workers showed that over half were burned out or in danger of becoming burned out that's higher than the overall labor markets nonprofit
workers do you will deal with all these issues plus long hours low pay and distressing work environment as well I understand and agree with the studies on burnout because I have teetered on the edge of this myself even standing here in front of you today makes me feel like I'm letting my agency and my client state but it hasn't always been like since for the first
thirteen year of my social services career I was able to work directly with clients one on one even when things were tough I feel like mine would work mattered like even not when things were really really bad we could get some ruins but over time I switched into management and and now the executive director of a nonprofit that focuses on chronically homeless men you know I
never really saw then it selling the homeless man was gonna be such a hard job after all seventy three percent of all philanthropic giving with dina by individuals in the United States and homeless individuals face a trite factor of barriers usually as mental health physical health and substance abuse and now I'm prepared homeless men are truly living in the shadows either their pain is played out
in public daily as they walk the same streets but in the same parks does one public official recently sat the uses our freight yard is their bathroom I often say when I'm fundraising that is easier to raise a dollar for a homeless puppy that a homeless man I think that we're less likely to attribute morality to the actions and behaviors of animals that we are to
our fellow man so people feel more of a connection the animals than they do to humans and this isn't just rhetoric in two thousand fifteen there was a desperate father in the UK his son Harrison had a particularly devastating form of muscular dystrophy so he decided to do an ad campaign he put posters up in the subways one featuring a dog and the other featuring his
little boy Harrison I have these two pictures which ones do you think which one do you think that the most likes if you said the dog you're correct the dog got over fifty percent more visits to its web page than the very sick little boy it was at this point that I felt my hope begin to fade a little but I decided still little bit more
research I went on to our work social media to see which posts to resounded passed with our supporters and what I found made me a little sad because it wasn't Julius getting his GED or street outreach workers handing out blankets on a very cold night our number one post of the year with the most organic clan was our box of puppies pets this post was put
up when he gassed brought us a box of very sick puppies and they needed immediate medical care so we decided to put the picture up on the website you'll be happy to know that most of the poppies are doing very well thanks to the support of our amazing community and quick thinking staff I however look it look at it as a time where I ahead it
really it lost hope it wasn't just the puppy is of course that was everything it was walking into a homeless shelter every day and seeing the line of man what around the corner said it wasn't having appliances breaking down and not having enough funding to fix it it was veterans being dumped off on our doorstep wearing nothing but their hospital gales who is autistic twenty year
olds given a one way bus ticket tired him from there is because their tail didn't have enough resources I didn't know how to make people relate to my clients and to be honest I didn't even know how to relate anymore it was all just too much it was too much stress it was too much need at the end of the day all I want do is
go into my office and shut the door I had to calm hopeless and burned Alex because my job was to sell a vision of hope and I had become hopeless my struggle is hopelessness took away my ability to relate you know it hopelessness is a terrible word in a world that is that is demanding a pleasure and happiness would we feel any sort of negative feelings
we do anything that we can do you to shut it down to chase it away if that doesn't work we feel even worse about ourselves but here's the thing hopelessness is the universal feeling we've all felt I want you to think back to a time remind a felt hopeless now maybe your mom or dad was sick or maybe work wasn't going some while just think back
into a time and a place where you work should work if there was a light at the end of the tub tunnel have you thought about it I bet it wasn't very pleasant bringing up painful feelings like hopelessness rarely ends they can use up be used as a powerful tool to connect because if everyone felt the same feelings even if it was for different reasons we
now have a common grail there are people in our community who are in pain they feel hopeless so by using our own feelings of hopelessness we can relate to batter we can meet people where they are in a way instead of where we want them to be and when we do that we can turn sent the thingy empathy which is a far more productive feeling you
now hope is a beautiful face it's what we all want it is truly the light in our dark day it would allow my free Leah to remain stabling house for as long as he did and has allowed his legacy I carry forward even to today but using your feelings of hopelessness can be a powerful tool to Kanak when you can that you can emphasized stronger so
here's what I want you to date I want you to remember that your feelings of hopelessness might be fleeting but for some people they are living in a hopeless stakes and I have to say this is an honor of my friend John John was a proud of marine veteran who recently lost his battle with hopelessness if you are feeling hopeless please know that you are not
