Tracy Gabrielson, a self-described “lunch lady” at St. John Catholic School in Fenton, Michigan, north of Detroit, is focused on personal growth.

“It’s nice to talk to someone and touch base about personal goals because we all have struggles,” she said.

She has benefited from the HOPE wellness program, as have her fellow employees of Michigan dioceses. It has helped them meet personal and spiritual goals through whole-person health and wellness support, including spiritual direction, personalized wellness coaching, bioethical guidance and mental health counseling.

Gabrielson explained to the Register that counselors “help you become a better you.” In addition, she is now reading the Bible and praying more frequently. She said that the program offers tasks for participants to complete. Having a “focus on the small things” can have big results, she said. “Stopping while we are going about our business to call a friend or a family member to see how they are doing can mean a lot. Maybe your call can change how their day goes,” she said. 

“This program has helped me to start setting goals, and focus has helped me to become better and aware so that I can be a better mom and wife at home,” she added.

HOPE is a Catholic program designed to enhance employee well-being, foster community engagement within the workplace, provide supportive services to assist with work-life balance, and to help cultivate workplace holiness, according to its website.

The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) partnered with the Christ Medicus Foundation (CMF) to make the program available.

The Michigan dioceses are the first in the country to offer HOPE to their clergy and lay employees.

MCC’s vice president of communications, David Maluchnik, said in an email to the Register that Michigan’s bishops sought a “mission-aligned partner” offering an employee assistance program that is “in accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church.” On behalf of the state’s seven dioceses, MCC negotiated with Christ-centered, pro-life CMF to provide HOPE to approximately 8,000 clergy and lay employees.

“HOPE’s focus on the whole person — spirit, mind and body, grounded in the truths of the faith — resonated with our needs,” said Maluchnik. Open enrolment began in October 2025 and is ongoing.

Michelle Dollis-Brady, MCC’s director of pension and benefits, told the Register the program meets a need: “HOPE offers a wide array of resources that are easily accessible, confidential, and meet people wherever they may be in their spiritual life with the assistance of trained and knowledgeable Catholic professionals.”

Darren Hogan, a fundraiser for Catholic Charities of West Michigan, is using HOPE’s spiritual, psychological and medical wellness offerings. “I’ve always wanted to know the truth about myself and the world around me. I believe Jesus founded the Catholic Church, so that’s my first stop when I have questions,” he said. HOPE, Hogan added, helps him “flourish as a whole person: spirit, mind and body.”

“One of the chief reasons I am so excited by HOPE is that I can trust it. It is such a gift to be able to trust it for our formation,” he said, while acknowledging that many of the voices in the realm of psychology and self-help may be opposed to the Catholic faith. Hogan has also taken several of HOPE’s online courses, which include a personality profile, health assessment and classes in “Whole Person Health: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” in addition to podcasts on topics ranging from relationships to healing.  

“HOPE offers superior spiritual direction from laypeople,” Hogan added, pointing to formation programs at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Avila Institute in partnership with Heart of Christ, the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality, and the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.

Recalling St. John Paul II’s theology of the body, Hogan called HOPE the late pontiff’s “dream come true.”

CMF Executive Director Louis Brown also referenced John Paul II, underscoring that HOPE responds to deficiencies in the U.S. health system. “The reason for Christ Medicus is to fulfil the Church’s mission and, in particular, St. John Paul II’s vision for the culture of life in health care,” he told the Register, adding that “burnout, disconnection and mental health struggles are real issues in today’s workplaces, especially in ministry-oriented roles.”

HOPE integrates science with Catholic theology, said CMF Wellness Director Rebecca Wilson. “We want to combine the best of what science offers, with the Church’s theology and the writings of the Church Fathers and accompany people in the fullness of who they were created to be to help them flourish in lives of virtue,” she told the Register.

HOPE operates alongside traditional insurance plans and remains consistent with Church teaching, said Michael Vacca, who oversees CMF’s team of 18 spiritual directors. In an interview with the Register, Vacca said “HOPE offers to direct people to the heart of Christ,” emphasizing the shortage of trained spiritual directors. “This is about helping people to discover, ‘What is the Lord saying to me? How can I cooperate with him? How can I grow into the person that he is calling me to be?’”

In a December press release, CMF described HOPE as a “paradigm shift” in Catholic workplace wellness that may spread nationwide. Catholic clergy and laity may also access HOPE independently if it is not available through an employer.

Reflecting on his own health challenges — including with stress and mental health — and his road to wellness, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, a CMF board member, emphasized: “Inside each of us is the truth of our identity, that we were created by God, who is Love, and are made to love and be loved. Tragically, in our current culture, the life, dignity, health, and identity of so many have been compromised, particularly in health care.”

Bishop Conley told the Register that HOPE reflects the Church’s holistic understanding of the human person.

“The unique beauty of Christ Medicus and the HOPE program is that they take the whole person into consideration, body, mind and soul. It is rooted in a truly Christian anthropology,” he said, noting that discussions are underway to bring HOPE to his diocese.

For Hogan, the program is transformative. “For me, HOPE has been life-changing, and I’m only four months in.”