Front Porch Friday: Meet Jill Hoven

 

I am so excited about this week’s Front Porch Friday! Today is a little different than usual because are guest is not an author (yet!) but a woman with an amazing ministry. Jill Hoven is here to tell us an incredible story of how God has moved in her own life and orchestrated the launch of MemoryMinders. Check out our interview below and be sure to check out her websites and jump on board with her Spring Into Wellness Challenge!

MemoryMinders provides memory wellness services for proactive individuals desiring to strengthen and preserve their mind wellness. Group programs and individual sessions provide education, encouragement and mental fitness activities in a fun, social environment. I also speak to groups offering interactive, educational presentations on mind, body and soul wellness and its importance as we age. MemoryMinders blog highlights mind wellness strategies and new trends.

What made you decide to start this ministry? The idea came from a friend whose husband was referred to a memory program. They enjoyed it but wanted something closer to home. She thought I should organize something in our community and after observing the program, I agreed!  I took a template and created MemoryMinders by writing its curriculum and running it independently so we can reach more people.

My friend who suggested the idea was in a mission outreach group at church with me.  I became a member of this group after following God’s call on my heart to serve others on a medical mission trip to Cambodia.  MemoryMinders came when I was looking for the next thing after caring for and losing family members. As a nurse, I wanted to do something meaningful but also flexible for my young family at the time. The idea also spoke to me since my mom had memory issues related to her illness before she died.

I started MemoryMinders in a small room at our church and now it has grown to be in numerous locations and serve many communities. While MemoryMinders is mainly about mind wellness, I wouldn’t have ever found it if I hadn’t followed God outside my comfort zone to Cambodia! This truly had Gods hand all over it!

Who is your ministry for? My clients are mainly older, but I practice all the strategies myself!  It’s why I’m so passionate about this; I know it’s helped me and so many others! Our message is meant for anyone who wants to be proactive about mind and memory.

What is your long term vision for your ministry? Long term I’d love to reach more people than we currently do with our message and programming. While my favorite way is to facilitate groups and individuals, I’m looking at options to reach anyone who is interested.  I would love to combine this message with my faith based message in a book as well.

What writers/books inspire you? I read a lot of non-fiction for MemoryMinders as well as whatever my kids are reading so we can do it together. They love to read and I love to find interesting things for us to read together. I’m trying to expand my literary horizons with more and different fiction this year as my mind wellness goal!

What do you like to do when you are not working in your ministry? I love to write inspirational faith based encouragement. I started a blog before I started MemoryMinders and actually wanted to pursue that in a larger way when MemoryMinders came along.  It has grown into the soul wellness arm of my message now. I’m hoping to write a book combining both worlds of wellness in soul, mind and body!

For fun, I love to cook, golf or just be with friends and family, especially if it’s near a body of water. Water rejuvenates me!

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? Always knew I wanted to help people and loved science, writing and teaching. I combined these in my nursing career initially through educational and leadership roles with coworkers and patients. I loved teaching my patients so when the idea for MemoryMinders came along, it fit me perfectly.

What are your favorite quote and/or Bible verse? Romans 8:28 & Philippians 4:13

“Don’t make it harder than it is” is something I say to encourage clients and myself!

Chocolate or Vanilla? Always chocolate!  I prefer dark chocolate-better for our brains and makes me feel like I’m helping my brain by eating chocolate!

Do you like jokes?  If so tell us your favorite one.  Yes! I use them all the time in my groups-the simpler the better –“What’s brown and sticky?” A Stick! –gets me every time! 😉

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point? Make the bed!  It gives a sense of purpose to the day!  But I get up before everyone else so my husband usually makes it! J

In regards to toilet paper, over or under? Always over, it takes all my willpower to not change it if someone else puts it the other way.  I leave it and challenge myself to be more flexible!

Where can we get involved in your ministry? Check out the MemoryMinders  http://memoryminders.net/ and Follow His Footprints http://www.followhisfootprints.org/ websites for more info. 

I just started a Spring into Wellness Challenge which combines all I do at MemoryMinders with my personal outlook on wellness found at Follow His Footprints. It’s going to be a fun way to challenge each other in Soul, Mind and Body wellness.  If interested you can still sign up here http://www.followhisfootprints.org/spring-into-wellness/

 

Where can we connect with you?

Jill Facebook http://www.facebook.com/JillMHoven/

Jill Twitter http://twitter.com/JillMHoven

MemoryMinders Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MemoryMinders/

MemoryMinders Twitter https://twitter.com/MemoryMinders

Pinterest  https://www.pinterest.com/JillMHoven/  Just started here, not enough hours in the day to explore this!

Email jill@memoryminders.net

 

Thank you so much Jill for joining us today. I know I have truly enjoyed getting to know you and working with you and I hope those of you reading this will get involved! If nothing else, just connect with Jill on a personal level . . . you will gain a “Barnabas” type friend, and we all need those people in our lives!

 

A little more about why Jill is such an awesome person to link up with!  Jill Hoven RN, BSN graduated from Carroll University and has cared for adults for over 27 years in various areas including cardiac & neuro-intensive care.  After years of caring for patients and also family members with memory issues, Jill founded MemoryMinders to bring proactive memory wellness programming to her community. As founder and program director of MemoryMinders, Jill enjoys speaking, educating, writing curriculum, facilitating memory wellness programming at various locations and consulting with individuals and organizations on mind an  d body wellness.

Jill is a member of the Brain Wellness Summit sponsored by the WI Alzheimer’s Institute- a center within the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  She co-authored Early Memory Loss Programs: A Best Practice Guide published online in 2012 to assist professionals interested in initiating memory wellness programs.

She is married to Tim, the boy literally from around the corner.  Together, they have two wonderfully active teenagers and live in Wisconsin. Between MemoryMinders, helping Tim with his business, serving at her church and watching her children’s sporting events, you’ll find Jill cooking, golfing, reading or by the water.  She has travelled on a faith based medical mission trip to Cambodia and facilitates service and mission opportunities at her church. She encourages others in their wellness through her own Bible studies and by chronicling her journey following Jesus on Follow His Footprints.

 

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