The Soaring Spirits Resilience Center is located on the campus of Schreiner University
in A.C. Schreiner Hall. Nestled in the beauty of the Texas Hill Country, Schreiner University and inspired by the trailblazing pioneers who came before them the Schreiner community offers opportunities as big as Texas. 

Schreiner University is dedicated to fostering grit and resilience in their students while offering them unique educational opportunities that will help them  grow into their unique potential to positively impact their communities for generations to come.

The partnership between Soaring Spirits International and Schreiner University began, appropriately, with research. Dr. Carrie West was an Assistant Professor at Schreiner and was seeking a data pool for the research needed to complete her dissertation as she worked towards her doctorate in the field of communications. Widowed herself at a young age, Dr. West chose to focus her dissertation on life satisfaction for widowed people, Her goal was to influence the research available about the widowed experience, particularly for the young widowed population.

In collaboration with the Soaring Spirits community Dr. West both earned her doctorate and achieved the goal of increasing the body of research available regarding conjugal loss and spousal bereavement. The results of her study inspired Soaring Spirits International’s founder, Michele Neff Hernandez, to explore opportunities for using the newly available research to create practical tools that would empower widowed people as they worked to recreate their lives after the death of their spouse or partner. With the support and vision of the Schreiner leadership, a unique partnership was born.

The work of the Soaring Spirits Resilience Center is a result of the collaborative efforts of dreamers and doers; of believers and doubters;
of researchers and teachers, but most of all of people who believe that access to hope changes lives. Together we are blending the wisdom found in research with the power of shared experience in service to every person who has outlived their spouse or partner.