Through Healing 4 Change, Unity 4 Orphans provides counseling to help vulnerable children build self-esteem, process trauma, and learn healthy communication skills to guide them to brighter futures.
The children we serve throughout Latin America have experienced realities no child should ever have to experience, which is why we highly value counseling. Education helps them break cycles of poverty and pursue gainful and reliable employment. Equally important are psychological interventions that help children break cycles of abandonment and abuse.
Healing 4 Change Has Rapidly Grown in 2024
U4O is humbled and thankful for the exponential growth in our Healing 4 Change program this year. We currently serve 1,081 children in 23 out of 29 sites across Latin America through regular counseling. This number has increased from 115 children receiving counseling two years ago and 865 in January of this year, an incredible feat and vital initiative!
My greatest motivator is the results we get to see. When the children have learning challenges, I assess their needs and give them techniques. I work closely with their teachers and parents. Seeing their results brings me fulfillment and motivates me to believe that we’re an agent of change in this place.
–Greyddyn, Program Counselor in Miramar, Nicaragua
We began offering counseling in Nicaragua and Mexico three years ago and have seen inspiring transformation stories that ignited our passion to extend that support to Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama. This year we’ve been able to hire additional counselors, a statistic we hope to increase next year.
Understanding Their Emotions Helps Children Process Trauma
Orphaned and vulnerable children have often witnessed situations far beyond their ability to comprehend and their worldview can be shaped accordingly. Our staff counselors teach them their emotions are valid and provide perspective to help shift the way they see themselves and their future potential.
We’re praying that the kids keep coming on a regular basis. We hope that the Holy Spirit touches the counselors and the kids so they can connect spiritually and have a bond. Our counselors are really longing to help them.
–Enrique, Program Director, Juntos Podemos
At a Saturday program in Panama, children were treated to a movie day complete with popcorn where they watched Pixar’s Inside Out. This movie famously personifies the complex and various emotions we all experience, in an age-appropriate way. The team in Panama, like all of our dedicated in-country partners, helps kids normalize and process the emotions that can rise up and get in the way of healthy development of self-esteem and interpersonal relationships.
Developing Healthy Coping Mechanisms Fosters Growth
We continue to hear incredible stories of healing from our partners in Mexico, where children from orphanages and community centers are learning their inherent value. When kids are given insight into what their emotions mean they feel validated and are able to break unhealthy behaviors and relational patterns. This powerful shift gives them hope and instills a sense of self rooted in true healing.
The challenge with the kids is they’re stuck in the past and the present, so we want to show them how God can change their future. It’s important to always discipline with love, give them rules, and be patient. I tell them this reality is temporary, but God will give them a better future.
–Yoly, Program Counselor in Tijuana, Mexico
This Giving Season, our goal is to raise $150,000 and provide education, nutrition, and counseling to more children than ever before in 2025. Healing 4 Change gives children vital tools that shape their self-image and establish a firm foundation on which to build their educational futures. Our ability to hire more counselors is limited only by our capacity to find and fund individuals who feel called to invest in the lives of vulnerable children.