Empowered by Hope
You want the best possible quality of life for your child regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. Raising a child with medical complexities is often lonely, scary and overwhelming. Join two parents of amazing children with rare medical complexities, Emily K. Whiting and Ashlyn Thompson, to get help and grow with them into empowered advocates for our kids. Here you’ll find a community of support, encouragement, education and resources, equipping you to navigate your child’s medical complexities with hope. To get more personal support, connect with us directly at www.ParentEmpowermentNetwork.org.
Empowered by Hope
Empowering Parents: Celebrating the Launch of the Parent Empowerment Network & Building a Supportive Community Together
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Discover the journey behind the rebranding of our organization to the Parent Empowerment Network, where our mission to uplift caregivers of children with complex medical needs remains steadfast. In this episode, we reveal the thoughtful process of selecting a new name that truly reflects our dedication to supporting those in the parent role. Uncover the significance of our new logo, a beacon of empowerment and hope with sun rays symbolizing new beginnings. We also invite you to explore our freshly launched website, parentempowermentnetwork.org, a hub for connection and community, where you can join us in celebrating this exciting milestone.
Emily and Ashlyn share insights on navigating the challenges of parenting during tough times, emphasizing that no caregiver should feel isolated in their journey. They assure you of your capability and readiness to tackle the demanding tasks ahead for your children's well-being. With a warm invitation to subscribe and share your personal experiences, they aim to build a supportive network that thrives on shared wisdom and encouragement. Spread the message to others who might find solace in knowing they're not alone, especially when hope seems distant. Let's walk this path of resilience and solidarity together.
We kindly ask that you share this podcast with other families who might benefit from our insights and support. Additionally, please take a brief moment to leave a review on your preferred podcast platform, which helps us to reach as many families as possible who are navigating this challenging journey, so they can find our support circle and access the assistance they rightfully deserve. No one should walk this journey alone.
To get more personal support, connect with us directly at:
https://parentempowermentnetwork.org
Facebook: Parent Empowerment Network
Instagram: ParentEmpowermentNetwork
Join the Parent Empowerment Network Community of Hope
Get your copy of She is Charlotte: A Mother’s Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey with Her Child with Medical Complexities by Emily K Whiting on Amazon
Whether you've just been blindsided by your child's diagnosis or you've been in the trenches of their complex medical needs for a while.
Speaker 1:Empowered by Hope, is here for you, though we wish you didn't know this heartache we're so glad you found us, so together we can walk this journey in hope.
Speaker 3:Hello, welcome to the Empowered by Hope podcast. It is your co-hosts, emily and Ashlyn. We have a very short, to the point and very exciting topic today. Bottom line is we have a new name, we have a new website, we have a new logo, but we have the same mission, and so we're going to tell you a little bit about that journey towards our new name, our new logo, our really exciting new website that just rolled out, and encourage you to go check it out and then subscribe, if you haven't already, to this podcast so that you can get it right in your inbox and stay connected with us moving forward and be part of the mission. So, ms Ashlyn, without further ado, tell us about our new name.
Speaker 4:Yes, so we have grown up, we have matured, we have found our true identity and we are now evolving into the parent empowerment network and, oh, we just love it. We are very, very excited and we just feel like we have, you know, kind of graduated to. You know who we want to be in this, this big world, and Charlotte's Hope Foundation was the right name to start us off with, you know, considering the initial vision that Emily and I had. And God has done his thing he always does and has taken us down a path that we didn't anticipate. And here we are with Parent Empowerment Network. So, Emily, do you want to help us explain a little bit like why this name is so perfect?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, so, yes, we have evolved. So, empowered by Hope will remain the same for the podcast, but our parent name of the nonprofit Charlotte's Hope Foundation is now Parent Empowerment Network. And, guys, we have worked on this for months, but really years, and it's been a lot of fun, and some painful moments too, of trying to figure out our true identity and really really nail this. And it's funny because you and I both come from branding and marketing backgrounds which, um, so it's been a fun and evolving, you know, journey. But we are now the parent empowerment network, primarily because we wanted our name to say who we are and what we do, without any need for explanation. We are the parent empowerment network and every word is chosen very intentionally and when I say very intentionally, I can't even tell you how many hours we've spent on finding the right words. So, parent, because knowing that we are serving the person in the parent role. So if you are the care, oftentimes you'll hear us say parent or caregiver, because if you're the caregiver, you're in that parent role for that child, right You're. If you're the guardian, you are in the parent role. So sometimes it's going to be the grandparent, it's going to be the aunt, the uncle, the foster parent, the, you know, fill in the blank, but either way, you are in the parent role and so we are the parent empowerment.
Speaker 3:Why empowerment? Well, because that's what we do. We empower by hope. And what are we empowering you to do? We are empowering you to advocate together for your child who has complex medical needs. And then the network, because it's not Ashlyn and I who are empowering you, it is this entire network of people that we are gathering, curating, grooming, growing, who can all pull together and support each other to then go out and be the empowered parents that our children need to be able to advocate for them. So what else would you add to that about our name? I?
Speaker 4:think you nailed it, I think it's perfect and we're just it, just, you know like when, if you have ever picked a name for your, a child or even a pet, and when you finally settle on a name and you're just like, oh, it feels right. That's that feeling we have, so yay for that, thrilled to have that off the to-do list. While it was painful, it was the perfect process. And here we are. So with that came the need for a different logo right. So you will see our logo up in the corner of this video for Parent Empowerment Network, and it was the fastest logo design process I have ever been a part of, like comically, so I will not tell you how many iterations it took for us to come up with our last fabulous logo that we still love.
Speaker 4:We absolutely loved our Charlotte's Hope logo. We knew that those were the right colors for us, and this time the logo just literally just popped into my eyes and I made the stick figure version of it and we gave it to a designer and said please make this look fantastic. And he did. And said please make this look fantastic. And he did. And, as you can see, empowerment is the main word, because that is our focus. That is what we are doing for one another together. It's an exchange within our network, all of us.
Speaker 4:And then the sun rays that you can see, because it is the perfect. You know, it is the perfect example, visual representation of hope. The sun will always rise the next day. The sun is always going to come up. No matter how awful, hopeless, terrible, hard something is one day, it doesn't stop the sun from coming back up the next day and giving us another chance to start over or try again, try another option, and so we just wanted it to be really simple and really straightforward, and we love it and we hope you do too. And then, emily, we have a new online virtual home, our website, which is parentempowermentnetworkorg, and we hope that you are going to race there to see it, because it felt a lot like actually building a house as many decisions it has taken and plans and change orders and material shortages and all the things Different paint colors. All the things Different paint colors all the things.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, we have a new website. It is amazing and hopefully very user-friendly. We went into this and we talked to the website team that we worked with and I'll let Ashlyn tell you about them. We went into it, telling them we want it to. The primary goal of this website is that when a parent learns their child is not well, they go to our homepage and immediately can very easily find access to support. That's what we want. We want it to feel like a breath of fresh air when your world is crushing in around you. Right? We want it to feel like, ah, I came to a place where there is hope and it expresses that visually and through the copy and everything. So we worked really hard on that and we worked really hard to try to.
Speaker 3:When you're in that moment of impact learning your child's not well you're not in a state to be able to absorb a whole lot. So we try to keep it super simple, super to the point. And then, of course, the secondary goal to our new website is to help make it really easy for donors to get really excited and support and get engaged with our mission so that it can continue to go and support all these families. So we have a new name, we have a new logo and with that came our new website and it really does feel like our new home. So that's very exciting.
Speaker 3:But the good news is or, and the good news is, of course, our mission remains the same. So our mission is the Parent Empowerment Network exists to support, encourage and educate parents and caregivers of children with medical complexities, and our vision is amen right Period. Our vision is a world where every parent raising a child with complex medical needs is embraced by a supportive community and well equipped to be their child's best advocate. And we are so excited to go on this journey with you to bringing these, this mission and this vision to life.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:So, with all of this super exciting information, you know what, Emily? We'll have to schedule a live. We'll have to do a little walkthrough tour. We'll have to give a tour of our new online house and show you some of the exciting features that are on there that we did not have before. So we will save that for later. We'll announce that once we get that scheduled.
Speaker 4:But for today's sake, to wrap this up, we have two asks of you, just two, and they're very simple and very fast. One please, please, please, go check out the website. Parent empowerment networkorg. Take a look around, see what you see, see what you like. Just, you know, be nosy. Check it all out. And then the only other thing that we're going to ask you is on the website. If you look at the top, where you'll see the menu bar, you will see a resources tab. Click on the resources and directly under it you will see podcast. Click on podcast. Okay, you following me. We're clicking on podcast.
Speaker 4:And then we want you to go ahead and enroll to be a subscriber for the podcast, and all this means is you're going to give us your name and your email. That's it. Everybody asks for your name and email these days, so no biggie, and you're going to get a weekly alert letting you know what the newest episode of the week is right. And even if you're listening to this and you're like, well, I shouldn't really be enrolling to this podcast because I am not a parent of a child with medical needs, Please still enroll in it, Please still become a subscriber, because all you're gonna get is an email on Fridays with an overview of what that episode is about, and it'll take you probably I don't know what 20 seconds, Emily, to just read the summary and the title of the episode.
Speaker 4:And that 20 seconds might spark a memory of somebody you know going through something similar to that, whether it's with their child or any caregiver. Honestly is what we get told very often. Yeah, and you can very quickly just forward that email to the one, two or three people who come to mind and give yourself a pat on the back and know that you are a hope advocate for the week and you've done something good. So we would be so grateful if you would do that as soon as you get a chance, Anything else, Emily.
Speaker 3:No, we're just so excited to embark on this journey with you now as the Parent Empowerment Network, and we can't wait to have you visit our website, subscribe to our podcast and we'll catch you on the next episode.
Speaker 4:You're right, thanks. Thanks everyone, bye.
Speaker 2:You are capable, you are equipped and you are not alone. Together, we can do hard things for our children.
Speaker 1:If this episode connected with you and you want to hear more, be sure to hit the subscribe button.
Speaker 2:We would also love to learn about your personal journey and how we can support you.
Speaker 1:Reach out to us at contact at charlotteshopefoundationorg.
Speaker 2:And last but not, least if you know of someone who could benefit from this podcast, please share when hope is buried.
