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Our Story
Pathways to Promise is an interfaith cooperative, which was founded in 1988 by fourteen faith groups and mental health organizations to facilitate the faith community’s work in reaching out to those with mental illnesses and their families.
We provide training, consultation, and other resources for faith groups who want to become supportive, caring communities for people with mental illnesses and their families. Our written resources, which include ministry manuals, bulletin inserts, and training curricula, are used by people at all levels of faith group structures from local congregations to regional and national faith group staff. Some written materials are available in Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Jewish versions.
Companionship Training
A Brief History of Companionship
Rev. Craig Rennebohm, creator of The Companionship Model.
The Model of Companionship was developed in 1987 on the streets of Seattle as a ministry of outreach to persons who were living in homeless and struggling with serious mental health issues by Rev. Craig Rennebohm. Over the last 30 years through the Mental Health Chaplaincy and Pathways to Promise, Companionship has been disseminated throughout the Seattle metropolitan area, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and North Carolina.
What is companionship?
Companionship is a ministry of presence, a relationship responding to isolation and suffering and supportive of healing and recovery. Companionship welcomes the stranger, building a circle of care with individuals who are facing emotional and mental health challenges. Companionship is rooted in our natural capacities as human beings to be sensitive, compassionate and concerned.
There are Five basic principles of Companionship:
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Companionship is a basic human relationship between two equals
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Companionship is a response to suffer; it is not about “fixing it”
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Companionship is a Public Relationship
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Companionship aims for mutuality
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Companionship recognizes our need for a circle of care and support
As Companions, we act on our concern for another person through offering the encouragement of five basic practices:
The practice of HOSPITALITY approaches another person with respect, honoring the dignity inherent in every human being. Hospitality creates and peaceable space with another. Hospitality shares calm, rest and refreshment in an often tense, confusing and traumatic world.
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The practice of
LISTENING opens us to another’s story, hearing the person’s own account, beginning in the now, exploring gently the past and what the future holds.
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The practice of
NEIGHBORING invites us to discover what we have in common, to set aside our power and privilege, and meet one another as equals.
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The practice of SHARING
THE JOURNEY SIDE BY SIDE positions us to look out at the world together, acknowledging our different backgrounds and viewpoints, proceeding with integrity, not pushing, pulling or imposing our priorities.
Tips on Listening
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1. It is a gift simply to listen
2. Listen for feelings and.
themes.
3. Listen to yourself
4. Take care with responses
5. Listen over time and in community.
6. Listen for the words of faith, hope and love
7. Be open to a person’s.
spiritual story.
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In the practice of
ACCOMPANIMENT, we listen especially for what the person says is their need, support the individual in connecting with community resources and help build a circle of care.
