Our Work
Offers the difference
With nature as our greatest resource and guide, The Greater Mercy Foundation (TGMF) provides educational, experiential, and transformational opportunities for the mind, body, and spirit. In partnership and collaboration with our community, we provide services that support mental wellbeing and cultivate courageous leaders.
Particularly in the last several years, our world often feels tumultuous and unpredictable, leaving many without balance or direction. As we work to support the wellbeing of others, we have experienced our own transformation in terms of how we deliver those services to the community. With the guidance of our Wisdom Circles, we are thoughtfully creating projects to effectively meet the evolving mental health and leadership needs of our community.
With a focus on mental health and wellness, we provide support to our school community and the community at-large. We offer the difference, meeting the needs and filling the gaps in services and systems so that there is more balance and stability during this time of great transition and transformation. The Greater Mercy Foundation projects:
Provide wellness services for educators and students
Connect adults, youth, and children with mental health professionals and services
Offer mental health professionals opportunities for supervision and development
Our projects derive organically, developing most often because of a direct request and expressed need. Some of our projects are identified when gaps in our structures and systems that have been stretched beyond their capacity create imbalance and undesirable symptoms such as professional burnout and stress or high levels of anxiety and depression. We honor requests with deep listening, curious questions, and thoughtful co-created projects. We do this through gatherings we call Wisdom Circles. These gatherings of stakeholders are conversations and explorations of what might bring back into balance what has become imbalanced and disconnected.
Our work depends upon and engages partnships that are mutually beneficial, and our projects serve as fertile ground for the development of new structures and systems that reflect our interdependence with the natural world and each other. We work with individuals and organizations in our community who share values and visions for a more balanced, connected, and thriving community. We look for ways to work within networks and relationships that value reciprocity and wellbeing of all including our natural environment.
Current Projects
Connection is Key: Suicide Awareness Walk
The WISD Wellness Center in Partnership with The Greater Mercy Foundation and Blue Hole Regional Park will host a Suicide Awareness Walk and Health and Wellness Fair at Blue Hole Regional Park on Saturday, September 14th 9:00 am to 11 am.
The theme for this event is “Connection is Key”, and we encourage participation from individual community members to walk the trail and visit the fair. Community organizations interested in participating can reach out to The Greater Mercy Foundation through this link or contact Sarah Myers at the WISD Wellness Center at sarah.myers@wimberleyisd.net .
To Donate, click here and indicate “Connection is Key”.
Follow this link for more event details and ways to participate.
Points of Wellness
In relationship with Wimberley ISD, The Greater Mercy Foundation and mental health professionals have partnered to offer Points of Wellness. School district employees who need mental health support at a reduced rate now have access to a small network of local therapists and counselors who have agreed to become community service providers for this project. If you are a WISD employee seeking support, please follow this link and enter your password to access the provider list.
If you are interested in becoming a provider, please email Jennifer Sabatier .
Yoga for Educators
For the second year, The Greater Mercy Foundation honors our educators and district personnel with a response from a network of collaborators to provide donation-based yoga classes for educators and the community at-large.
The Greater Mercy Foundation will host yoga classes in partnership with WISD and Creekhaven Inn and Spa. Classes will be held OUTDOORS at 400 Mill Race Lane, Wimberley, TX, 78676. In inclement weather, the class will be moved to an alternate location on the property.
Classes will occur once a week, Wednesdays from 4:15-5:15 pm starting September 18, 2024 through May 8, 2025 (no classes the week of Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, or Spring Break week). All classes are donation-based for attendees. Contribute what your heart feels called to offer.
2024-25 Yoga for Educators is possible through The Greater Mercy Foundation and mutually beneficial relationships with our natural environment, Wimberley ISD, SHAC, and The Wellness Center, Creekhaven Inn and Spa, local yoga teachers, and community donations. This project benefits our hard working often over-extended educators as well as the community at-large.
Return to Nature
John Knox Ranch, our host and partner, helps make nature experiences, discovery, and learning possible for Kindergareten through 12th grade students attending Wimberley ISD. Once a semester, students visit John Knox Ranch campus to engage with nature and each other on the outdoor campus of John Knox Ranch. Students learn about the natural world and their place in it through various activities like canoeing, hiking, and being among the trees and waterways of the 300 acre property.
Community Connections
Are you looking for a therapist, healer, educator? Are you a therapist, healer, or educator looking to connect with others professionally? It is part of our mission to develop community and create connections. If you or someone you care for is in need of therapy, counseling, body or energy work, educational support, please give us a call. We are here to connect you with local providers that best meet your specific circumstances. We also aim to establish a deep professional network so that together we can support each other and make the best referrals for clients or potential clients. Call us.
Developing Projects
wisdom circles
We have inspired young girls to lead through after school yoga programs. We have helped establish a wellness center on the campus of a high school. We have guided student leaders to help provide mental health support for their peers. We offer grief and loss training for parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, and others who want to show up to effectively support people struggling with big change and grief. We provide regular referrals to local mental health services, putting people in touch with compassionate providers who meet their needs.
As we enter this next phase of our work, we want to expand our circle of understanding. The community vision is being shaped by intergenerational gatherings, thoughtful voices, and deep listening. If you are interested in participating in our Wisdom Circles, please contact us.
