Professor Ben Corn, director of Life’s Door and the “Institute for the Study of Hope, Dignity, and Wellbeing” at Hebrew University, who spoke at the Jerusalem Post online conference, “A Nation in Trauma,” has been studying the concept of hope for over a decade. “Human beings crave hope,” he explained.
Corn is the co-founder and director of Life’s Door, an organization he established together with his wife, Dvora Corn. The organization operates across Israel and internationally, cultivating and amplifying hope and wellbeing through a variety of evidence-based programs. It runs workshops grounded in the research of Prof. Corn and his colleagues, working with institutions such as the Tzafon Medical Center in Poriya, the Matav organization, the Israel Prison Service, the Community Centers Association, and other entities that provide support for people facing illness, trauma, and other life crises. The Life’s Door model is to embed and integrate hope theory as a practical and sustainable model in every organization. The Institute for the Study of Hope, Dignity, and Wellbeing engages in the rigorous study of these programs so that there is a scientific foundation for this model and that outcomes such as improved hopefulness, decreased burnout, enhanced dignity, and other parameters of wellbeing are measured. Funded scholars and fellows in the Institute, which is part of the Hebrew University, are forging a path for future leaders in this vital and oft-neglected area of society.
Life’s Door has recently launched a digital platform and mobile app, Hopetimize®, designed to extend the reach of these tools and provide accessible and interactive support for people facing trauma and other life challenges from the comfort of their home.
“Hope is a state of mind and, really, a skill-set that individuals can attain,” Corn said, “provided they focus on three keys. You have to have a goal. Hope is future-oriented, and that goal needs to be meaningful to you and plausible to achieve. Then, you have to chart a path to reach that goal, even though you know that the trail is going to be studded with obstacles that might get in your way. The hopeful person learns how to circumnavigate those obstacles and, finally, needs to marshal the agency and the drive to set out on that pathway.”
Often, he cautioned, people feel that it is impossible to find purpose or hope when facing challenges on the national level -- such as bringing the hostages back -- because they feel that they have little influence. A sense of control seems to be lost. The way to overcome that feeling and restore control, he said, “is by considering hope in one’s personal space and defining an individual goal. If I engage in an authentic process that focuses on where I can draw agency, then I become more hopeful in my own space, which impacts on my broader life view. That might, then, give me the incentive to link up with other people and see if we really can make a difference in society.”
Corn said that these programs have been tailored to the needs of wives of IDF reservists who have been injured. “We bring these women together to share their experiences, the problems they face, and offer them an opportunity to construct a toolkit that enables them to manage their lives with hope. That goes a long way!” The women begin to access a sense of hopefulness, which constitutes nothing less than a right for every person throughout life.
“The radicality of this idea is that we’re talking about a hope that is very pragmatic and attainable,” concluded Corn. “If you’re willing to think about who you are, what makes your day, then we, as professionals aiming to enhance hopefulness, can find a way to connect you to those goals through your values.”
Written in collaboration with Life's Door