Glass Hollow
The Waters of Reflection
Still Water
A year-long journey of recovery woven from the land, story, and the ancient wisdom of growing things. Seminars, workshops, and lectures in the field of trauma recovery and personal growth — rooted in six acres of living land in Delaware.
HopeWoven is a year-long recovery program set on six acres of living, breathing land in Delaware. We serve individuals recovering from addiction and homelessness — people who have often been told their stories are over.
✦ ✦ ✦Through narrative therapy, cognitive behavioral practice, forest bathing, and the quiet discipline of tending land, we help participants author a new story — one woven from struggle, resilience, and the simple miracle of something growing where nothing could before.
⎉Residents of Vincent House share meals grown from the land, tend animals, learn to grow and cook their own food, and move through a structured community of purpose — rebuilding life one thread at a time.
"The land does not judge. It receives what is planted, tends what is tended, and in time — always in time — it blooms."
⎉HopeWoven is authored by April Shandena and licensed for use by Higher Ground Outreach, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit co-founded by Lou Hernandez and April Morehouse, providing harm reduction, housing support, and recovery services to those the world has too often forgotten.
Our farm is not simply a location. Each space has a name, a character, and a role in the healing journey. Participants move through these places as they move through themselves.
The living heart of the farm. Permaculture learning, forest therapy, and the medicine of green, growing things.
A place of reflection and stillness. Where the pond holds the sky and participants learn to witness themselves.
From the Latin: to conquer. Our structured learning space where CBT and narrative work take shape.
Sanctuary. Where the body and spirit are allowed, at last, to simply be.
The domain of the barn cats — quiet companions in the margins of the farm, keepers of their own counsel.
Where the dogs run free — and remind us that joy without apology is its own kind of healing.
HopeWoven's farm is home to a full community of animals — each one a teacher in its own right. Nigerian Dwarf goats who demand your presence. Chickens who reward routine. Ducks who insist on absurdity. Cats who offer companionship without condition. The animals don't know about recovery. They only know about right now — and that turns out to be exactly what is needed.
HopeWoven offers educational services including seminars, workshops, and lectures in the field of trauma recovery and personal growth. Our year-long curriculum draws from four evidence-informed and earth-grounded traditions, woven together into a single coherent journey toward lasting recovery.
Separating the person from the problem. Authoring a new and truer story — one that belongs to the participant, not to their pain.
Identifying patterns, restructuring thought, and building the architecture of a new life from the inside out.
Shinrin-yoku — the ancient practice of letting the forest in. Nervous system restoration through presence in nature.
Permaculture, growing, tending, harvesting. The profound dignity of making something live and learning to belong to a place.
We learn to walk beside others with Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage.
The Compass Project is a free 6-week community helper training program open to anyone who wants to support HGO's work — or simply become a more grounded, boundaried, compassionate presence in their community. Now in its second cohort. Summer 2026 enrollment open.
"We believe that every person who has been cast aside carries within them a story worth telling — and a life worth growing."
HopeWoven is preparing for its first cohort at Vincent House. We provide educational services including seminars, workshops, and lectures in the field of trauma recovery and personal growth. We are rebuilding our greenhouse and developing the Verdant Grove learning studio. Every gift — of materials, labor, or funds — moves this work forward.
Higher Ground Outreach is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible.