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You know, in addition to that 12 lesson curriculum, we don't just like, you know, hand it to you and say you're on your own. We've got a once a month group leader support group meeting that we. You are always invited to as a group leader. Sometimes it's just us getting together and, you know, connecting and sharing thoughts and ideas. Sometimes we have guest speakers come in. Often it might be speakers of our partners coming in to speak speak to us. The Healing Strong partners. We have mentors that we assign our group leaders to. So you've always got, you know, somebody you can call on. We have chaplains available to you. We have a prayer team that is absolutely amazing that, that we want all of our group leaders using. We have a prayer team or a prayer call once a month also for our group leaders and for their participants. And we invite, invite our group leaders in and invite them to. To invite their groups in as well. So many resources. So in addition to those 12 lessons, there is a whole other huge plethora of resources available.
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You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization, the number one network of holistic cancer support groups in the world. Each week we bring you stories of hope stories, real stories that will encourage you as you navigate your way on your own journey to health. Now here's your host, stage four cancer thriver, Jim Mann.
C
She's a nurse, a teacher, cancer survivor. Yes. Talking head on the video curriculum. If you've ever seen the curriculum for Healing Strong groups, she's that little talking head up in the corner. And she is. I thought she was one of the original in the Healing Strong, but she's been with it for nine years, so that's pretty long. I mean, you were like in your teens when you started, right?
A
Yeah. Yeah.
C
Okay, good. And of course, she's a wife and a mom. All these things are fantastic. But Janet Everhart, thank you for joining us today. And we're going to talk about support groups. I almost call them small groups, which, you know, they are, except for the one out in California. They're support groups for those who are looking for that healing journey. Maybe they're going through cancer right now or they want to prevent cancer, or they just want to be healthy. You don't have to have cancer to be a part of Healing Strong is what I'm saying. But Janet, you're like over all the groups, right? Is that your title, over the groups
A
that I'm over the groups? I am the director of volunteer programs. Is my, my Current title right now.
C
And I. My position is showing people that anybody could be a leader. I've done it for six years, and I just. I have a testimony that now I have two people who are taking over for me who are far more qualified. Hey, six years, that's not too bad.
A
It's not too bad. And you've done an awesome job of it. And I hear you meet in a beautiful location in South Carolina. I've not been able to be there, but I've heard it's a really cool place to be.
C
It is. It's a cancer survivors park. I mean, what's better than that? So. So it's amazing. Not too many cities have a park that's designated for healing from cancer. Yeah. And I have you to thank for enabling me to go six years because you. You kind of moderate the curriculum. There's like 12 videos that you can use. You know, obviously one each month per year. And we've gone through it twice. And then we did that because we've had people that are coming through the groups, and then they would move on, but now we have people that are just coming all the time, and they've seen it twice, and they're like, yeah, it's great, but let's move on to something else. And that's when I started losing it. And now they are so organized because, you know, one's a teacher and one is a missionary and. And they know what they're doing. But they were very patient with me for those six years, and I appreciate that. But we're bringing you on, Janet, so that you can kind of explain how you. You don't have to be a teacher. You don't have to have, you know, all these qualifications or degree or anything like that to start a group, because this is basically for people who don't have a group in their area, which is my situation. And then I felt obligated in my own head, you know, because I wanted to give back after surviving my cancer. And I thought, well, that just means I have to do it. I didn't have an excuse. So I went ahead and started one and proved that anybody can do that. Basically want you to explain to them how easy it is to do this, but you can take it in any direction that you want. I mean, that you can talk about, you know, how to juice, prepare foods, things like that, little demonstrations or. I mean, there's so much to cancer survivorship, and you can just go in so many directions, which I was lacking. Hopefully our group will do this now, but can you explain that because you were an elementary school teacher, right?
A
I was a preschool teacher.
C
Preschool. Oh my gosh.
A
So you get a teacher. Yeah.
C
You can explain it how I can
A
understand easy terms here.
C
So let me get my crayons.
A
You are correct. You don't have to have any of those major qualifications. All you really need is a heart that just wants to serve and be there for other people as they are walking through their cancer journey. And we do, we make it simple, super easy for you. We do have that 12 lesson curriculum and that is where we ask all of our groups to get started. So we'd like for everybody to go through those 12 lessons to begin with. And then you do have some free reins as far as, you know which directions you want to go and what things you might want to dive deeper into. And there's, there's all kinds of cool things our groups are doing after they go through those 12 lessons. But, but you get that 12 lesson curriculum. It also includes with that a PowerPoint. It includes a leader's guide. Of course, the participant guide is free for anybody to download on our website. And then, and with that there's some, just some added resources and little goodies that come in with each one of those lessons too. But like you use Jim, we also have the lessons on video. And so it can be as simple as just gathering just a group of people together. It can be friends, family, whoever you want to invite, get together, watch those videos, take some time to talk about them, have some fellowship time and just, you know, pray for each other, support each other. And that's really all it has to look like. It doesn't have to be anything super fancy.
C
You don't have to have a cancer survivor park like myself to do that. You can meet in your home, you can meet in, you know, your church, whatever it may be.
A
You are correct. We have groups meeting everywhere in, in parks, some are meeting in parks, but some of them are just meeting in a coffee shop, just, you know, a little area off to the side. We've got groups meeting in their homes. Churches are a great place to start because you kind of have a ready made group or you know, a group of people that, that you can invite to begin with to help get you started. But you know, libraries, there's, there's community centers, all kinds of good places you can find to do your meetings and usually for free. And I always say if God's put it on your heart at all to be a group leader, then he's already going ahead of you and he's going to open the doors. And so even if it's a place that might charge, you know, often people get to use those rooms for free because when they find out who we are and what we're all about, you know, they want you to be able to use their space then. So.
C
So one of the best things of having the group, especially in person, is that people, like, in my case, it's all women and myself, and they just get together and they talk about what they did this week or this month, you know, what kind of a protocol, or they just love it. It's like they're at Disney World rather than having cancer. They're, like, so excited and explaining, you know, what they've done. And they said, well, have you done this protocol? And what do you think about this? It's at least a half hour before I can even get a word in, which is fine. I mean, that's. That's what encourages everybody.
A
That is. And that's really what it's all about. You know, don't. You don't ever have to feel as a group leader that you have to have all the answers, the curriculums, they're provided for you. But. But really, you know, so much of the learning is just about interacting with each other and learning from each other. It's just being that support system. And, and that's really why they get excited. It feels like Disney World when you're going through cancer, you know, to know that you've got people there that. That really can, like, connect with you and understand because they're experiencing those same things. I think that's really what makes. Makes it special to be a part of those groups and so different from your other cancer support groups because we pull faith in. We pull God in. And look at, you know, all three of our pillars. Rebuilding the body, Rene, the soul, and refreshing the spirit. And that just makes us different. It's. It's not. Not a place where we have a pity party about all the ugliness in our life. It's. It's really about sharing and lifting each other up.
C
Yeah. And that encouragement goes a long way because lots of the battle. In fact, I couldn't believe how much of the battle is mindset about your cancer. And I never thought that's not true. You know, your body's going to do what it's going to do anyway, but it's. That's not true at all. The mindset is very powerful. It pretty much dictates what your body is going to do. And fortunately, I Don't remember very well because they told me I only had a month or two to live and I forgot about that. And so here I am ten years later. I'm still good at it.
A
I forget about that. That's okay. They didn't have any, they had no reason that they should ever be putting a timeline on you or, you know. Yeah, they didn't have that authority.
C
Of course, that's kind of an exaggeration that I forgot. But still, I didn't, I didn't let cancer be who I was. It was just something that was a part of me at that moment. And now it's not one thing. Also, I think is a good idea if you're thinking, I, you know, it's just more than I could do. I don't know what I'm doing. There are many online groups that you can actually join any of them and just watch how they do it. And after a couple months you're like, man, I can do that.
A
And yeah, and learn from that. Learn from that. I have a zoom group right now and I really find it interesting with our zoom groups that a lot of the participants in our zoom groups are members of several of the zoom groups. So they're hitting groups every week that they can be a part of and just to keep them encouraged. So I think that zoom option has been a really cool thing that we were able to add. But you know, there's also so much good stuff that happens in those in person groups when you're able to do the food demos and just have that, you know, the personal touch that can happen there. I think that is so important. And we really, we like to, we like our group leaders to go with the personal groups, the in person groups. But, but you know, the zoom, if that's what works for you, we want you to do what works for you. So, you know, in addition to that 12 lesson curriculum, we don't just like, you know, hand it to you and say you're on your own. We've got a once a month group leader support group meeting that we, you are always invited to as a group leader. Sometimes it's just us getting together and, you know, connecting and sharing thoughts and ideas. Sometimes we have guest speakers come in. Often it might be speakers of our partners coming in to speak. Speak. Speak to us, the healing strong partners. We have mentors that we assign our group leaders to. So you've always got, you know, somebody you can call on. We have chaplains available to you. We have a prayer team that is absolutely amazing. That that we want all of our group leaders using. We have a prayer team or a prayer call once a month also for our group leaders and for their participants. And we invite. Invite our group leaders in and invite them to invite their groups in as well. So many resources. So in addition to those 12 lessons, there is a whole other huge plethora of resources available. So, Jim, you really could keep going as the group leader. Just. You don't have to just use those 12 lessons. There's a whole bunch more material there for you.
C
I'm still going to go, of course, because I have the key, but to the building. But, yeah, I can't wait to see. In fact, they already gave me, like, an outline of what they're gonna be covering for the next year. I'm like, oh, my.
A
They are just really organized. That's awesome.
C
Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow, but I'm kind of excited. I might learn some more stuff.
A
Well, that is neat. That is neat. So there's all kinds of fun things you can do once you've gone through that curriculum and having group lead or having speakers into your groups. I know you just had Susie come last last week and talk to your group.
C
Yes.
A
Doing field trips, doing food demos, you know, just getting together for fellowship, do Bible studies. There's all kinds of cool things you can do, and just diving deeper into additional topics.
C
Wow. Field trips. I never even thought of that. Man, I can't wait till it's a real group. I was hoping more guys would come, but guys don't like to admit they have cancer. I don't know what it is, but it's not that they're. I mean, more men have cancer. What's it, one out of two men and one out of three women? So it should be full of guys, but we're too proud.
A
And. And I. I just want to say how much we appreciate our. Our men that are coming in as group leaders, because I really do think. I think that helps when you have a man leading the group or a part of the leadership of a group. It helps men feel a little more comfortable as they're coming in. We have several husband, wife teams that leading groups. I know. You know, I know that many of our groups do have men attending, but I will say that the. It's definitely more female than male.
C
Yeah, I'm. I'm a little intimidated by all the women there. I mean, they're all super nice, but I mean, still, like, I'm like, man, every one of these women could do this. They're much better than me. They all seem so organized and so knowledgeable about different tests and stuff. I'm like, well, let me go ahead and push this button and Janet's going to talk to us. So I feel like I owe you.
A
And that's all right. You made it work that way. And I think that's what's important, you know, because you have a group of people that you've brought ministry to in your community, and that's what it's all about. Whether you did it through the video that was there for you or you taught the lesson yourself, it's just about spending that time with those people and just supporting each other.
C
Yeah. And also, if having other group leaders that are more, you know, seasoned and love doing this kind of stuff. There's so many group leaders that would love to be, you know, guests for other groups. Usually it's. It's got to be zoom, because unless they're nearby. But like Susie, she came.
A
Uhhuh.
C
I just happened to be just two hours from her, so it worked out well. You know, I'm not good with asking people to do stuff. And yet there are people who would love to do it.
A
There are. We have a lot of group leaders that are just extremely knowledgeable. Some of them health and cancer coaches themselves who really can share a lot of good information. Some of them that have beautiful healing testimonies themselves, and they are more than happy often to zoom in and share their testimony with another group. So that's part of what we make available to you also as a group leader is a little spread spreadsheet that's got all the groups that are active on it and those leaders who would like to be on it. Actually, not all the groups, but it would be those leaders that would. There would be happy to zoom in and talk to your group or share their testimonies. So that's something that's always available.
C
Now, I always forget. I know there are hundreds of groups right now and they're all over the world, but we've been adding other countries also. I know there's like one in Italy and there's, you know, one in England, of course, but where are some of these groups?
A
So we've got a group now in Australia and then just recently had another leader that has lined up. So we're hoping that a second group is going to be starting up there. We've got a group in England, we have a group in Ireland, and we for a while had a group down in Costa Rica, but she has moved Back up into the States. So that one's no longer there. We've got several groups in Canada. Yeah. Uk, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland. We have Alita down in Mexico. I don't know if she's actually gotten her group together yet. I haven't heard from her in a little bit. Nigeria, we have a group. We've got a group in Trinidad and Tobago, actually. I think she meets online, so. So that's one that anybody could be a part of if it meets your time zone. And then the Australia, if I needed to say that one again.
C
Wow.
A
Yeah. We are growing internationally and we're still missing a few of our US States. So if you're looking on our directory and you don't see anybody listed in your state, then God might be calling you.
C
Yeah. Not in Greenland yet, right?
A
Not in Greenland yet, no.
C
I'm gonna go start one there.
A
I've heard that's a beautiful place to go.
C
How long have you had your group?
A
So I started my group in 2017. Started as an in person group, and then during those days that things kind of shut down a little bit. Way back when, I moved my group onto Zoom and I picked up several people from different states, and so I have just continued to hold my group on Zoom just simply because. Because I don't want to lose those people. They're special to me.
C
Right, right. Have you ever gone back to the in person?
A
I have not. I have not. I have had a couple times that I've gotten together with some of the local people in my area that were part of my group at that time. But. But other than that, no, I've not. Not gone back to the in person now.
C
I know there are people listening. They listen to this podcast because, you know, maybe they have a new diagnosis and they're, you know, they're in that. That season where they're scared, and the doctors usually make you feel like, oh, my gosh, you got to hurry up and do what we say, which is a terrible place to be. You know, I was there for. For a week. I think that I calmed down, but. But it's, you know, it's terrible. I mean, you feel like you just gotten a death sentence, and that's how, you know, society treats that. Oh, they whisper all of a sudden, oh, you have cancer. But what do you say to these people that they're listening right now? How would you encourage them, I guess, is what I'm asking, to just calm down and find a support group. I mean, how would you encourage them for this?
A
You know, first of all you're correct for most cancers. There are some aggressive cancers out there that you may need to move a little faster. And sometimes they're not found until people are just already stage four and in really bad shape. But for the most part, when people find out get that cancer diagnosis, they do have time. And it took years for that cancer to be to the point that it was going to show up and give them that diagnosis. You know, so you have time to do some research and just take time and be prayerful. That that would be my biggest encouragement to begin with, is take it to God. Take it to God and ask him what that path for you is. And if you at all are feeling led toward doing some holistic things, even if you're not feeling led to do holistic things, get connected with a healing strong support, support group because you're going to continue to learn whether you're going through your conventional treatments or not. The majority of the things we teach are going to be useful for you and are going to help you make it through in a better way, in a healthier way. You're going to learn ways that you can support your body through those treatments and be able to decrease any symptoms that you might have from that. But certainly if you're looking, you know, wanting to do some holistic things, we can connect you with all kinds of people that have beautiful testimonies of healing that, that have gone through it and you know, whether they've done integrative or all holistic, there's, there's just a huge whole family community, even you know, people we connect with outside of, of healing strong with our partners and just all the people we know that, that we can, we can share those testimonies and they just continue to encourage. And you're right, the mindset is a big part of it. You got to believe that, that you're going to get well and you're going to make it through that and that and then, you know, follow God's direction. He's going to light the path for you.
C
I kind of stumbled across healing strong shortly after, you know, my diagnosis. You know, you google it and find out that wow, you're doomed. My percentage of, of living was in a single digit percentage, which is not really encouraging. But Google is not a good doctor. I found out healing strong popped up sounds, I'm sure it's through Chris War because that's like the gateway. And it was just in 2018 when they had that conference in Atlanta and so I knew nothing about it. I didn't know it was faith based. I just thought, well, it's it In Touch Studios. So, hey, they just rent that out. So I didn't think much of it, but I went there and I heard them talking about God and. And I'm like, wow, does everyone else know this is faith based? I was excited, but I thought I was just oblivious, let's put it that way. And so I was so encouraged by that. And I saw how huge the community was. And again, that's when I saw that everyone felt like, you know, they were in Disney World, which is kind of odd. That's when I got my diagnosis. I was actually at Disney World when I got the message. It did ruin it for me, but, yeah, when they get together, they're just so happy and they're just giddy with excitement. And I thought, man, this is. This is kind of a cool thing. So I looked it up even more and I found out there was no group around me. And I started one at my church and people just kind of came out of the woodwork because people needed some encouragement. And they did come kind of depressed at first, but as soon as the meeting was just halfway in there, people were. They were excited about being there and they felt encouraged. There's one girl that it kind of bothered her that it was faith based. She was. I don't. I don't really think this is for me. And she was very young and she was very scared. And I tried to talk her, you know, off the ledge, so to speak, but usually that's not the case, that people think they're about to die, which is where she was in the mindset. But there's so many people, is my point out there, that are scared and are looking for some kind of encouragement. And, you know, they're getting all kind of mixed directions from the doctors and other things they're reading on the Internet. And. And of course, it's getting bigger and bigger. You just so easily overwhelmed by all the information that comes at you on the Internet. But at the same time, it's exciting because there is a lot of information that's beyond the pharmaceuticals. It's like, hey, this is what God made. This is what he created to heal our bodies, which he also created. So there's. There's a lot of encouraging news out there and you can get it all in a healing, strong group. And just at their website, not only is the curriculum where you're the talking head and you do very well, but there's all kinds of videos on there of different stories and of Course, we got the podcast, which is mostly hearing people talk about their diagnosis and how they went through that. And you're like, three years ago, we did one on you and you told your story.
A
I did.
C
And yeah. And I'm sure it's probably our favorite. That's what I'm thinking.
A
I'm pretty sure I. I haven't heard all of the. The podcasts, but I are many, many that have better stories than mine. Is there. There are some really cool stories on there. So.
C
Yeah, well, anytime you start with cancer and you're survivor, it's a great story.
A
It is you. You are correct.
C
So, yeah, it was a great story. So I encourage you to go back and. And you're like one of the early ones. It's been three years ago. I forgot what number you are.
A
But, you know, I don't know.
C
We're like at 130 something now. 140 somewhere around there. But there's plenty of stories to listen to, so I invite you to do that and also give us five stars, too. Just do a little plug in there. But we want to relieve you of any apprehension of getting. Being a part of a group or leading one. If there's none in your area. Yeah, obviously, if there's one in your area, go join that, be a part of that. But if you're like me and there is none near you, you know, start one and people will just come. And eventually, if you don't want to lead it, someone will step up and say, hey, this is like in my zone. I can do this. So, yeah, it's good stuff. I can testify with that. I'm probably frustrating Janet over the years because she would ask, well, just, you know, I just want a number of how many people there so we can keep track of, you know, how. How well we're doing. Yeah, it's such a simple thing. And I'm like, oh, I keep forgetting.
A
That's okay. We forgive you, Jim. But that is one of the things we ask our group leaders to do, is register their meetings every month or every. What? Every meeting, whatever. However often you're meeting. Most of our groups are meeting once a month just to give us an idea of what's going on in your groups and the number of people you had present, how many volunteer hours you're giving us. Those are all things that are important to us as a nonprofit organization. But, you know, the other thing is when you share those things that are going on in your meetings, then I'm able to use those in newsletters and things where they can encourage other people. And you know, you mentioned that you, you had someone that had a concern with the being a faith based group. And I see all these meeting registrations coming in and the things going on and how leaders are sharing. I know that we have multiple groups that have had non Christian people come into their groups and I think, you know, for the most part they are, they, they're fine with it. What I think they're, when you're right, when you're at that point in your life that you're maybe facing death, you're going to like, take whatever, you know, these people want to love on me and pray for me. I'm going to let it happen. But you know, the cool, cool thing is I get to see all these beautiful stories and I know people that have come to, to know Jesus through coming to our healing strong groups and, and, and the beautiful part of those stories is sometimes that maybe they were at the very end of their life and so they were able to come to know Jesus and you know, take, take him on as their savior. So, but you know, I hear those stories of tumors shrinking. I hear the stories of, you know, scans being clear and emotional healing and just, just the joy and, and the, how people learn to look at life differently I think is part of that. Just when you face that cancer diagnosis, you, you realize that things you thought were so important probably aren't so important and you've just learned to view life in a different way and learn to be more, have more gratitude, be more thankful for each day that you're breathing and you know, just to, to experience the joy that God wants us to have through life.
C
And now as we wrapping this up, what does someone need to do? What is their first step if they're thinking, okay, you talked me into it, I'll go ahead and start a group. Even if it's just me and one other person, what do they have to do first?
A
All right, well go to our website, healingstrong.org and right now, now we're hoping that we are going to have a new website rolling out here before too long. But right now at the top there's a little tab that's called Groups on the new site. I think it's, it's going to just say maybe become a group leader. Let me, I'm looking real quick to see. Nope, it just says Group two. And when you click on that, you can click on host a group is what the new one's going to say. So it's easy to find it. But healingstrong.org when you go into that, there is a one time fee to register and then we have a very small, minimal monthly fee that just allows you to continue to have that access to the leaders material and resources. And you know, more than anything that's just to help us cover those behind the scenes things that are there. Supporting, supporting our whole community really. So we, we just appreciate that. But, but that's, it's as easy as that. And once you've done that, then I get an email that says you've registered and then I will be reaching out to you and share with you when the new group leader training is that. I might not have mentioned that, but that's another thing we do is that new group leader training. You also have a monthly newsletter that comes out to just our group leaders that continues to, you know, feed you more information and give you more resources and lots of ideas from other group leaders. So there's all kinds of good stuff there. But it's very simple. If you've got more questions about being a group leader, you can reach out to me. JanetHealingStrong.org and I'm happy to meet you on Zoom and maybe walk you through our leaders lounge, give you an idea of what all those resources look like. Answer any other questions you have.
C
Perfect. And I think what you tell people is, I think the sentence is if Jim Mann can do it, you can do it. That's pretty much the saying. Is that what it is?
A
I haven't been using that one. Maybe I can start. But I'm gonna say Jim Mann did an awesome job. He led that group for many years and got him strong. And now he's passing it on, passing the baton. That's okay. That's okay. That's one thing I've noticed. We have group leaders. I recently was just giving some thought to some of those group leaders who have been with us for many years now and just continue, you know, some of them continuing to go through those 12 lessons over and over. Some of them will do the lessons and then they'll take a few months and do some speakers or some different things in between and then they go back to the 12 love lessons, but they just continue with those groups. There's several that have, have had some of the same participants in their groups for many years. Even though they have experienced healing, they just keep coming back. And part of it I think is just continuing to share your own testimony because that, that too is healing.
C
Yeah. I mean obviously it's very educational. You can learn as Much as you are able to in these groups. But the biggest thing about it is the encouragement that you get from other people walking a journey similar to yours. Everybody's is different, of course, but you know, it's like I said this the other day, it's like being in the military. You know, there's a bond that comes when you fight with somebody. You know, the same battle. I've not, I was a cub scout, so I don't really feel that, but I understand that. You know, there's a bond that's just, it lasts for a lifetime when you're like with somebody else and doing this battle. Well, it's the same thing with cancer or any other disease. If you're got someone else who's going through the same thing, there's something about that, that bond that just forms there. So it's, it's just great. Even if, you know, you just come and just talk about each other's stories and maybe what you've learned, I mean, it's not, it's not that difficult as I have proven.
A
Well, and you know, I mean, really part of our, our big reason for doing this is just the belief that healing happens at home. You can go and you know, go to get your treatments, you can go to your cancer centers where you're, they're doing all the holistic treatments. But eventually you're going to be back in your home every day in your day to day life and you've got to get things right there. And so I think that's a lot of what you find. You know, we're in the, on the holistic side of healing. We're doing some things sometimes that can, people might think we're a little bit crazy or that we might get some negative words coming to us from people outside. And so, you know, when you've got that support group there that everybody's kind of walking through this together, then you can just really share that and feel that somebody else understands and they're supporting you in the choices you're making.
C
All right, well, I think you covered it all. Anything else you want to throw in there that you missed or.
A
I, I'm sure there was a whole lot of things I missed, but, but
C
they can call you.
A
We've got, we've got some, lots of new groups that are just getting started lately. So, you know, if you haven't checked the directory recently, you might go and see again if there's any in your area because we've just, you know, we got a new one starting up in Walled Lake, Michigan and Garden Valley, Idaho, Hartford, Wisconsin lots. And of course there's that beautiful wonderful group in Greenville, South Carolina.
C
Yeah, probably the best. Probably or will be from this point on. Well, we probably have the best place to meet, I will say that. But of course I haven't been all the others. Well, thank you so much Janet for taking the time and for being patient with me and not yelling at me. So I appreciate that.
A
You're very welcome. Thank you Jim for your years of service. We just really appreciate it.
B
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, part of the Healing Strong organization. We hope this episode encouraged you and gave you confidence to take charge of your healing journey, trusting God to guide your path. Healing Strong is a nonprofit dedicated to connecting, supporting and educating individuals facing cancer and other diseases through strategies that rebuild the body, renew the soul, and refresh the spirit. It's free to join a local or online group. Just visit healingstrong.org to find one near you or start your own. While you're there, create a free my HealingStrong account to access all of our free resources to help you live healthier and heal strong. Though our groups and resources are free, we invite you to support our mission through a monthly Hope Givers donation of your choosing. Your generosity helps us reach more people with hope and encouragement. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a five star rating and review to help us spread the word. We'll see you next week with another story on the I Am Healing Strong podcast.
Episode 136: All You Need Is a Heart to Serve, We Equip & Empower the Rest | Janet Everhart
Date: May 15, 2026
Host: Jim Mann
Guest: Janet Everhart (Director of Volunteer Programs, HealingStrong)
This inspiring episode spotlights how anyone with "a heart to serve" can become a HealingStrong group leader, no advanced credentials, teaching background, or personal health experience required. Host Jim Mann—himself a stage 4 cancer survivor and group leader—engages in a heartfelt and humorous conversation with Janet Everhart. Together, they break down HealingStrong’s unique approach to cancer support, the resources available for group leaders, and the transformative power of community and faith in health journeys.
"All you really need is a heart that just wants to serve... We make it simple, super easy for you."
– Janet Everhart [05:15]
"Mindset is very powerful. It pretty much dictates what your body's going to do."
– Jim Mann [09:30]
"It feels like Disney World when you're going through cancer... you've got people there that really can, like, connect with you and understand."
– Janet Everhart [08:27]
"If God's put it on your heart at all to be a group leader, then He's already going ahead of you and He's going to open the doors."
– Janet Everhart [07:22]
"Healing happens at home... You’ve got that support group there, everybody’s kind of walking through this together"
– Janet Everhart [33:14]
"If Jim Mann can do it, you can do it."
– Jim Mann [31:06]
| Time | Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Overview of ongoing support, resources, and mentor systems for group leaders | | 05:15 | Anyone can become a group leader—motivation over qualifications | | 06:45 | Where groups can meet; diversity of group models | | 08:27 | Importance of community, support, and faith in the group experience | | 09:30 | Host Jim Mann on the power of mindset in healing | | 10:43 | Zoom/online group options and continuous leader support | | 13:39 | Ideas for post-curriculum activities and expanding group topics | | 16:48 | International expansion of HealingStrong groups | | 19:49 | Advice to newly diagnosed individuals—encouragement and first steps | | 29:16 | First steps for starting a group and available support | | 31:06 | Ongoing support for leaders (training, communication, resources) | | 33:14 | Healing happens at home—why local groups matter |
Join or Start a Group:
Visit healingstrong.org to find or create a support group.
Reach Out for Help:
Janet Everhart is available for questions at JanetHealingStrong.org.
Remember:
You don’t need expertise—just a willingness to serve and support others.
This episode is a testament to the power of volunteerism, faith, and community in overcoming life’s toughest health challenges. If you’re searching for hope, encouragement, or a way to make a difference, HealingStrong offers the tools and support to help you—and the people around you—heal strong.