"Personally, our passion to start the HOPE Ministry came about after the death of our oldest adult son by suicide in August 2013. Gabe was bright, cheerful and bigger than life; however, one would hardly ever get a hint that he suffered from depression. He did his best to hide from the realities of that depression through self-medication. For some time, Gabe was able to live his life as a hard-working partner in a family business, a husband, and a father to his little girl and two step-sons just as though he "had it all together". Over time, his ability to hide his use of alcohol to cover the depression came to an end. And then before anyone really understood the depth of his pain and despair, he was gone.

Gabe died just five months after the death of Rick and Kay Warren's son, Matthew, also to suicide. Matthew suffered the effects of mental illness from a very early age. Several months after Matthew's death, Rick and Kay knew without a doubt that Saddleback Church needed to take a giant step forward in the battle against mental illness through the start of a new ministry. Over time, Saddleback has trained many other churches on how to begin a mental health ministry. We were blessed to attend their REACH Conference in October 2017. At that time, we were also blessed to have lead pastors and a church staff who fully supported the development and implementation of HOPE.

After returning home, we shared our vision with a large group of people and were amazed to see so many of them ask to be an integral part of the beginnings of HOPE. Today, we continue to believe this ministry will have a huge impact on people living with mental illness or emotional trauma and their families. We also feel within our hearts that Gabe would be pleased with what his mom and dad helped start through God's leadership and direction."

Bruce and Debby Barrick