Russell Mark: Hope is the healer that means the most
About the writer: ,has served as CEO at Juliette’s House since 2016. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Baylor University and M.A. in communications from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions in Maryland with the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Ramark Consulting and the National Alliance for Caregiving, then New Mexico with Taos Health Systems.
Hope is a curious thing. It is often hard-won, sometimes late in arriving, and rarely linear.
But at Juliette’s House, hope is not left to chance; it is cultivated with intention. You might even say we’ve earned a Ph.D. in it.
When a child experiences abuse, hope is not a luxury. It is essential to healing.
I often think about a young boy standing beneath a colorful mural in our office. His story was one of profound trauma.
For much of his young life, he had been mostly nonverbal. Words simply hadn’t come.
But that day, something shifted. He laughed. He squealed. He jabbered with delight.
Nearby, his grandmother stood frozen for a moment, then overcome, tears streaming down her face, her smile wider than I had ever seen. His therapist quietly wiped away tears of her own.
I felt them, too.
A breakthrough had happened. Hope had shown up.
I’ve shared that story many times with visitors in that same hallway. It is simple, but it speaks to something profound:
Here, we witness hope every day. Sometimes it is loud and joyful. Sometimes it is quiet, painstaking, and barely visible. But it is always there, growing.
For those unfamiliar with our work, Juliette’s House was founded in 1997 to serve children in Yamhill County.
We provide forensic interviews, medical exams, therapy and family support, ensuring a child-centered, evidence-based response to abuse investigations as an accredited member of the National Children’s Alliance. Last year alone, we served nearly 400 children.
But healing does not end when an investigation closes. That is why we are expanding our work by bringing Camp Hope to Yamhill County.
Camp Hope is a trauma-informed mentoring and camp program for children who have experienced abuse or domestic violence. Through mentorship, outdoor experiences and year-round connection, young people build resilience, confidence and, most importantly, a belief that their future can be stronger than their past.
This work is grounded in what is known as the science of hope, a research-based framework demonstrating that when young people develop goals, pathways to reach them and a sense of agency, their capacity to overcome adversity measurably improves.
Which leads to a simple question this April, during National Child Abuse Prevention Month: Where have you seen hope today?
At Juliette’s House, hope is not abstract. It is built, day by day, at the intersection of prevention, intervention and healing.
Prevention means equipping both children and adults with the knowledge to recognize unsafe situations and respond. Last year, we reached nearly 6,000 individuals with education on healthy relationships, boundaries and safety.
Intervention means that when abuse, neglect or violence occurs, children come to a safe, child-friendly place where a coordinated team responds with care and clarity, conducting forensic interviews, providing medical evaluations and supporting families through some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Healing means walking alongside children and caregivers long after that first visit, through trauma-informed therapy, advocacy and ongoing support, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
This is what hope looks like in action. And it is urgently needed.
The statistics are difficult, but necessary to confront: Some 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will experience abuse before the age of 18. Most will know their abuser. Many will never tell, and the impact ripples outward through families, schools and entire communities.
At times, the scale and complexity of abuse, locally and nationally, can feel overwhelming. Systems fail. Power can shield wrongdoing. Justice can be delayed. And these realities are hard to hold.
But focusing only on the darkness risks missing something equally true: Child abuse is preventable. And prevention begins with informed, connected communities.
That is where each of us comes in.
Throughout April, hope will be visible across Yamhill County, in storefronts, classrooms and gathering spaces. Our Prevention mascot, Blue Bear, and the Child Abuse Prevention month icon, the Blue Pinwheel, will be featured on yard signs.
Blue and silver potted pinwheel “flowers” will be seen on business counters. “Blue Bear banks” will invite small acts of generosity adding up to meaningful change.
There are many ways for you to take part:
• Nearly 40 local businesses are stepping up as benefactor partners, donating proceeds from special items and designated days, making it easy to support children while shopping and dining locally.
• Adult prevention training session slated for April 16 and 29 will offer practical tools to recognize, respond to and prevent abuse.
• A restorative yoga and sound bath on April 17, hosted by Cascade Movement Center, will create space for reflection and healing,.
• On April 21, McMenamins Hotel Oregon will donate 50% of the proceeds from dine-in sales at Friends & Family Night to support this work.
• Nearly 70 businesses throughout the county are hosting awareness displays to spark conversation.
• And on May 1, we will gather for the Celebrate the Children Auction, raising critical funds to sustain our services.
Each of these moments, each conversation, each training session, each act of generosity, plants a seed of hope. So look around you. In your workplace. In your neighborhood. In your family.
For more information about opportunities for participation, you are invited to visit Visit www.julietteshouse.org.
So, where have you seen hope today?
For me, it was in the laughter of a child who found his voice again. In a grandmother’s tears of relief. In a therapist’s steady, compassionate presence. And in a community that continues to show up, again and again. Hope can take root, even in the hardest places.
That is why this work matters.
Please feel free to contact me personally if you have questions, would like a tour of our center or would consider becoming involved on a sustained basis. You can reach me by e-mail at russell@julietteshouse.org.
Every child deserves to feel safe. Every child deserves the chance to heal. And each one of us has a role in making that possible.
So I’ll ask you one more time: Where have you seen hope today, and how will you help it grow tomorrow?
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