Grateful Hope: The Instructors
The course will be taught by Joe Primo, CEO of Grateful Living, and Sheryl Chard, Director of Education. Learn more about the instructors below:
Joe Primo, CEO
In my work as a hospice chaplain and then building and growing programs for grieving children and families, my understanding of hope was forged by thousands of lives that were meeting endings and uncertainty. The enormous amount of death I have encountered taught me that hope is not optimism. It is a humble and realistic openness to the one, precious gift that is our life. Even at the end, so much remains surprisingly possible.
What makes grateful hope a radical stance?
Hope is a radical response to a culture obsessed with and powered by fear.
Sheryl Chard, Director of Education
I was blessed to spend three decades working with young people and educators, and I know two things absolutely. The first is that teaching and leading well is some of the most challenging work there is and utterly dependent on hope. When passion for the possible fades, the work is simply too hard. The same is true for learning and growth: Without the ability to work toward something not fully grasped or imagined — without this hope — change and growth are impossible.
What role does passion for the possible play in cultivating hope?
Hope depends on imagination and openness to what we can’t yet envision — on not letting the flame of possibility flicker out.