Help Me Hope

Research into practice. Possibility into action.

Advancing the
science of hope.

Hope is a skill you can learn, strengthen, and maintain. Help Me Hope is developing research-informed programs, applications, and tools to put it into practice.

Understand the science

A direction. A way forward. Another way when we need one.

01 / A more useful understanding

Hope has more
to offer than
a good feeling.

We often speak of hope as a wish, a bright outlook, or something we have to wait to feel.

Research offers a more practical understanding: hope involves the motivation to pursue a goal and the ability to find ways toward it.

That makes hope something we can work with. A capacity we can practice, especially when the route we expected is no longer available.

02 / The structure of hope

The will.
And the ways.

In psychologist C. R. Snyder’s hope theory, goals give us a direction. Two connected capacities help us move toward them.

Agency / The will

I can take action.

The belief and motivation that we can take action toward a goal.

Pathways / The ways

I can find a way.

The ability to identify routes toward a goal, including alternatives when a route is blocked.

Hope does not require a clear road. It involves the capacity to keep looking for a workable one.Read the foundational research ↗

03 / Beyond the theory

A different question
in the places it matters.

01

In a changing life.

When the familiar plan falls apart, what still matters to me? What is one possible next step?

02

In healthcare.

Alongside uncertainty, how can people retain a sense of agency and identify meaningful goals?

03

In organizations.

When a route is blocked, how can people see alternatives and feel able to act on them?

These questions guide our work in development. Hope is a resource to strengthen, not a promise of a particular outcome or a substitute for care.

04 / What we are building

From the literature
into life.

Help Me Hope is a founder-led nonprofit translating established hope research into practical application for individuals, organizations, and institutions.

Programs In development
Digital applications In development
Practical tools In development

We are developing practical ways to strengthen hope, from peer connection and patient-powered advocacy to digital tools.

Explore the work

Our founder

ALI
BLACKMON

Ali Blackmon, founder of Help Me Hope.

Writer, Storyteller, Educator, Founder of Help Me Hope

05 / A personal question. A practical purpose.

What helps us find
a way forward?

For founder Ali Blackmon, the question of hope began with lived experience. Years of serious illness, kidney failure, dialysis, and a kidney-pancreas transplant brought the uncertainty of being alive into sharp focus.

Her experience led her to ask what hope consists of, how it works, and whether it can be strengthened. Help Me Hope grew from that inquiry.

Today, Help Me Hope is developing practical ways to strengthen hope and further research through that work.

About Ali ↗Speaking inquiries ↗

06 / Support Help Me Hope

Help put the science
of hope to work.

Your support helps develop research-informed programs, applications, and tools, and advance the research that can grow through this work.

Partner with us.

Talk with us about implementing hope-building programs in your organization, healthcare setting, or institution as our work develops.

Start a conversation ↗

Get involved.

Apply to volunteer and contribute your skills to the work Help Me Hope is building.

Apply to volunteer ↗

Follow Help Me Hope