What does it mean to “do hope?” What if hope were a verb, not a noun? We Do Hope, a six-episode podcast that releases its final installment today, embraces that idea. Hope is not just something you feel, you have, or you don't have, but something you do, preferably with others.

We Do Hope is hosted by Kaethe Weingarten, PhD, the founder and director of the Witness to Witness (W2W) program, Moises Arjona Jr., MS, Collective Impact Director of Unidos Contra La Diabetes, Jessica Calderón, International Projects and Emerging Issues & Witness to Witness Program Associate, and Pamela Secada, MPH, Senior Program Manager for Witness to Witness  . Throughout the six episodes, the hosts explore what it means to be a witness, discussing moral injury, chronic sorrow, micro-aggressions, self-compassion, and practicing reasonable hope, particularly as these topics relate to the experiences of health care providers.

“We put together six topics that we felt were of vital importance to clinicians, frankly to anyone. We introduce the materials in an easy-to-follow, conversational format,” said Dr. Weingarten. “We hope the podcasts provide easy access to concepts and tools that can be immediately helpful to our audience.”

Witness to Witness helps clinicians who routinely bear witness to trauma, death, and hardships at a scale that most people have not and will never encounter. The challenges of this work are compounded by health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing health and infrastructure problems revealed in the last two years. When clinicians work with vulnerable   populations that are underpaid, overworked, and under- or misinformed, and lack access to consistent care due to limiting factors such as citizenship or migration status, discrimination, a lack of insurance, access to transportation, or poverty, these challenges are even more pronounced . Community Health Workers are dedicated to working with those who need help the most but struggle disproportionately to get it. Seeing this kind of pain and suffering weighs heavily on these clinicians. Witness to Witness provides resources for clinicians to navigate through difficult times and pressured workplaces.

This podcast is a new way for Witness to Witness staff to disseminate their information and expertise on clinician support. With each episode’s focus on a few key points and information on ways to cope, this podcast series is an incredible resource for health care workers. 

All six episodes are available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, and many other streaming services. Our final episode was released today and tackles reasonable hope, and how we can create and maintain it.

Witness to Witness has resources on their page about many of these topics. Several are available in English and Spanish. If you want to read more about reasonable hope and the other topics addressed by this podcast, please take a second to explore the Witness to Witness program and their work.

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