“Since I was a child, I have dreamed of working in a way that helps other people, but I didn’t know how or where to pursue this. When I started working in Restoration, I had little confidence and didn’t know what I was doing. The day I first met with a young gal that I was assigned to counsel, God spoke to my heart, “This is the work I have prepared for you!” Even though I can feel tired and discouraged at times, I have learned that when I’m listening to the voice of God, doing what he’s calling me to do with a clear “why” in my heart as to the goal, I can choose to overcome the challenges with His strength and help. I want to help others that I don’t yet understand and so I am motivated to keep learning and growing. I love helping people see the truth of how God created them; with great value! I am so grateful to be doing work that I love!” - Nueng, Case Manager
Today, as I reflect on the way our Restoration team has grown, I’m amazed and thank God for all he has done! Less than a year and a half ago, this team’s focus was on providing care and daily programming for the boys in our aftercare home, as well as following up with the boys who had moved on to live in the community. They taught academic subjects, Bible, life skills, job training in the community, led worship, provided case management and supported the house parents. With the last of our boys reintegrating at the end of 2018, our staff has diligently continued to walk with each of the boys through regular contact as they are living in a variety of settings and face life challenges as grown men. Without them in our care full-time, we began taking what we learned in our years of walking closely with these boys to minister to those who are hurting and vulnerable within our community in Chiang Rai.
As the restoration projects at Ezekiel Rain have changed, our staff have risen to the challenge of taking on new roles and stepping out in new things. We began training the team in more advanced counseling skills and adapted the curriculum we had developed for use in our aftercare home for use with trauma survivors living in the community. Within a matter of a few short months, our previous teacher, Nueng, although hesitant, transitioned into the role of case manager and began leading young college-aged women through our healing curriculum in a counseling setting. She began preparing and leading trainings in the community on topics of abuse, trauma, human trafficking, loving others, and self-care. Not only Nueng, but our whole staff eagerly accepted opportunities to attend trainings hosted through other organizations as well, bringing back their learning to share with the ER team. They have stepped into opportunities to lead trainings for other NGO workers here in Chiang Rai and northern Thailand on topics of trauma and walking with trauma survivors.
This year, as the number of people seeking us out for help grows, so does the team’s confidence and experience. We have expanded our monthly counseling trainings to include our Roots and Resilient Families staff members and in addition to these trainings have started a monthly group case supervision meeting. In that process, two of our staff are chosen to prepare an in-depth presentation of a case they are working with, then team members offer feedback and ideas. Last month, as two of our staff presented two very difficult cases they felt “stuck” with, I sat back and smiled, marveling at their insights and at the quality of the responses from our team. They have moved from needing support every step of the way to being able to support each other with understanding and ideas that are strengthening the quality of the help we provide within each of these programs. This is a group that loves Jesus, walks in unity with one another and is motivated to love others well; willing to learn what loving help looks like, even when it’s not easy. Each one of them are walking in the good works God has prepared for them and it’s beautiful to watch them bring truth, hope and healing to others.