Last weekend, HALO Founder Rebecca spoke at INDULGE KC, an all-day event dedicated to finding your inner warrior. Along with women from the Kansas City community, Rebecca went through a series of workshops and workouts focused on finding balance and inspiration. She also took to the stage to talk about HALO and how her stroke three years ago affected her approach to life. Self-love is an skill we teach our HALO youth and something we try to live out in our own lives. INDULGE was the perfect reminder of that.
HALO kids learn how to identify and cultivate many life-skills In the Learning Center. A central one is self-love because so many other skills stem from that. Compassion, empathy, integrity, the list goes on. Recently, we held a three-part series on emotional, spiritual, and relational self-care. HALO kids made journals, learned about positive self talk, and discussed how to use self-care to relate better to others. By learning to view themselves and their abilities in a positive light, children are better equipped to face challenges life throws at them.
For many of our HALO kids, so much of their life is out of their control. They suffer through uncertainty, loss, and being told they are not enough. HALO represents a sanctuary where they can come and be themselves. A place of security and consistency where they are always welcome. But we also have a duty to provide them with tools for when they are outside of HALO’s physical space. In a safe environment, we can learn what positive self-talk sounds like, discover the kind of people we want to surround ourselves with, and focus on what we need to keep moving forward rather than be distracted by what we want in the moment.
Cultivating self-love is so much more than doing something nice for ourselves. It’s about building a framework of how we view ourselves which impacts how we react to the world. At HALO, we think that’s a crucial lesson to pass on to our kids because we know they are more than enough.