en·hearten
(to give heart to, encourage)
The heart is the center of all things human.
Enhearten may not be a word you hear very often anymore, but its etymology may give you a better understanding of why we were so drawn to name our practice after this word.
The word "heart" comes from the root word "kerd," which shows up as "cor" in Latin or "core" in English. So, the heart is the core, or the center, of a human being, much like the "core" of an apple is its center.
En-hearten literally means "to go into the heart," and words like "courage" still remind us of just how powerful this transformative action can be.
At Enhearten Counseling and Assessment, we go straight to the heart of our client's experience to better encourage their healing, integration, and transformation.
Birds have always been seen as symbols of change and transcendence. A bird’s ability to perch, spread its wings, and take flight has always captured the human imagination. Birds of prey, specifically, have evolved the sharpest eyesight in the animal kingdom due to the heights in which they fly. This allows them to skillfully locate and attend to objects in their surroundings, especially from far away.
Relatedly, if a human being desires to transform their current situation, they must also have the courage to rise up and risk falling, while consciously attending to that which surrounds them. It is no wonder that almost every culture through history has used the bird to symbolize this process of transformation.
For these reasons, we knew that birds needed to be a main aspect of our logo. However, the process of transformation is not linear. There are highs and lows that accompany authentic change. We decided to use two different birds to symbolize that dynamic process.
The white dove at the top of the logo symbolizes positivity, new life, hope, and light itself. For example, we still release doves during weddings to symbolize our collective hope in a joyful and prosperous marriage.
The black crow at the bottom of our logo symbolizes negativity, death, temptation, and darkness. We challenge you to find a film that doesn’t include a crow or raven during a scene that also includes death, misfortune, or a bad omen. However, the crow can also carry with it a hidden message, and this message can provide an opportunity for change if one is willing to hear it.
The dove and the crow come together in unity, for life isn’t about receiving the positive and discarding the negative. Life is about receiving the light, while attending to the darkness in a way that transforms the darkness into something good. We believe that process is what brings about sustainable and authentic change and transformation in counseling.
Most importantly, we believe that your mind and willpower alone cannot bring about this change. Only our hearts, in authentic relationships with trusted others, have the power to foster meaningful and sustainable growth. We place the heart in the center of these two birds to remind us of that reality. Our practice name, Enhearten Counseling and Assessment, is also a reminder of how the heart is at the center of healing and transformation.
We moved to Fort Collins following a three-month van trip across the United States in search of a place to put roots. Interestingly, there was only one thing that seemed to follow us during the entire western portion of our trip; the American magpie. The idea for our logo was founded on this bird, as magpies have both white and black feathers. The blue circle that surrounds the birds in our logo is symbolic of the sky and the possibility for transcendence. Personally, it is also a remembrance of the beautiful blue feathers of the magpie, which truly show their magnificence when the bird is in flight.
We owe many thanks to Erin Parrot, a local artist in Fort Collins, for designing our beautiful, personalized, and hand-crafted image and logo.