Season 3 • Hope + behavior change
Hope Is a Public Safety Strategy
Tristan Gross joins Jonathan McMillan to explain how meaningful goals, usable pathways, and sustained agency shape behavior—and what CVI programs can do when hope has been blocked, misdirected, or repeatedly betrayed.
Hope in practice
Identify what is missing before choosing the next move.
Silent animation · 41 seconds. Use the player controls to play, pause, or replay.
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- Goal: the destination — what am I working toward?
- Pathways: the routes — how can I get there, including another way when one path is blocked?
- Agency: the motivation and capacity to keep moving.
- The three parts work together; examine the missing part before choosing support.
Companion collection
Turn the conversation into practice.
These companion briefs translate the episode into decisions, coaching moves, workforce practices, and questions CVI teams can use immediately. Each resource also has a permanent home in the Knowledge Library.
Episode Insight
21:19Hope Is a Way of Thinking
Hope becomes practical when a person has a goal that matters, a route they can actually use, and the motivation to keep moving. Hope theory calls these goals, pathways, and agency.
Open resourceEpisode Insight
29:25High Hope Can Serve a Harmful Goal
Determination and strategic thinking do not guarantee a safe destination; practitioners must examine the goal as well as the motivation behind it.
Open resourceEpisode Insight
43:03Sometimes the Program Has to Be the First Pathway
When systems and relationships have repeatedly failed someone, a CVI program may need to become the first reliable route toward a different future.
Open resourceEpisode Insight
51:34Blocked Goals Can Become Anger, Despair, and Apathy
Repeatedly blocked pathways can change how people respond—from fighting harder, to losing confidence, to no longer believing action matters.
Open resourcePractice Tool
56:41Create Future Memories of Success
Help someone picture a specific future, connect it to steps they can complete, and see evidence of progress.
Open resourceEpisode Insight
01:08:07Trauma-Informed Is Not the Same as Trauma Recovery
Understanding how trauma shapes behavior is necessary, but recovery requires sustained conditions, relationships, and support that help people heal.
Open resourceEpisode Insight
01:17:04Reflective Supervision Is Program Quality
Frontline workers need structured space to examine difficult encounters, emotional exposure, judgment, boundaries, and their own relationship with violence.
Open resourceFramework
25:00Shift From a Deficit Lens to an Asset-Based Lens
Start by identifying strengths, relationships, and existing capacity, then use those assets to build movement toward a safer future.
Open resourceFramework from the episode
The work shifts when the question shifts.
A deficit lens starts with what is wrong. An asset-based lens identifies strengths, relationships, and capacity that can become part of a pathway forward. This is not an excuse for harm. It is a more useful starting point for change.
Use the frameworkSilent animation · 27 seconds. Use the player controls to play, pause, or replay.
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- The deficit lens asks: what's wrong, and how do we fix it?
- The asset-based lens asks: what's right with this person?
- Identify strengths, build on them, and move toward a better space.
Visual companion set
Follow each process at your pace.
The complete collection adds guided practice, hope and action, OARS conversation skills, and a trauma response reminder. Each visual has a completed still, readable sequence, practical question, and an episode link.
Episode chapters
Move directly to the part you need.
- 00:00Hope, violence, and the future we imagine
- 01:38Meet Tristan Gross
- 09:35Tristan’s journey into public health
- 18:12Discovering the science of hope
- 21:19Hope is a way of thinking
- 25:00Positive psychology and asset-based practice
- 26:50Goals, pathways, and agency
- 29:25When hope serves a harmful goal
- 33:04Motivational interviewing in CVI
- 37:12Measuring hope and program outcomes
- 40:11Building hope into CVI programs
- 43:03Sometimes we have to be the pathway
- 46:40Creating sustainable pathways
- 51:34How hope becomes anger, despair, and apathy
- 54:49Rebuilding hope through small wins
- 56:41Creating future memories of success
- 01:00:45Self-care beyond performance
- 01:04:59Examining our relationship with violence
- 01:08:07Trauma-informed care versus trauma recovery
- 01:11:17Turning research into healing practice
- 01:14:03Holding space for anger
- 01:17:04Reflective supervision and organizational practice
- 01:19:47We cannot give what we do not have
- 01:22:58Connect with Tristan Gross
- 01:24:02Bringing the science of hope into your organization
Curated resources
Go deeper than the episode.
These sources extend the research, practice, and local context discussed in the conversation.
OU Hope Research Center
Research and practical applications related to hope, adversity, and human services.
Medical College of Wisconsin
Community-safety research, policy, and engagement.
414Life
Milwaukee’s public-health violence-prevention initiative.
Milwaukee Blueprint for Peace
A community-driven framework for preventing violence and strengthening safety.
Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers
Training and resources for collaborative behavior-change conversations.
SAMHSA Trauma and Violence Resources
Federal guidance on trauma-informed approaches and recovery.
Bring the framework into the work
Build programs that help people see—and reach—a different future.
Jonathan works with jurisdictions, CVI organizations, and cross-sector partners to translate strong ideas into training, program design, implementation, and accountable public-safety systems.