Our History
Someone To Tell It To was co-founded in 2012 by Michael Gingerich and Tom Kaden. Michael and Tom had been each other’s “someone to tell it to” for years—a constant friend and listening ear in moments of challenge, uncertainty, and everyday life. The organization was formed from their desire to support people in a deeper way and give everyone someone who would listen with compassion.
Since its founding, Someone To Tell It To has had more than 15,000 interactions of compassionate listening with people in the United States and in several countries around the world.
Our Mission
Someone To Tell It To cultivates meaningful relationships through compassionate listening, training, and educating others to do the same. Our vision is a world in which everyone matters, everyone is heard, and loneliness is diminished.
Our Values
In practicing compassionate listening, we lay aside all prejudices and preconceptions and invite open and honest sharing, free from judgment. We believe that everyone—everyone—has inherent worth and that open, ongoing, meaningful connection has the power to provide hope and healing.
Our Founders
Michael Gingerich, M. Div.
“Listening opens up infinitely more aspects of the world that I would never experience without hearing others’ stories. It broadens my understandings, deepens my compassion, and connects me to feelings that I would never know otherwise. Listening makes me a better person, because it gives voice to ideas and insights that only connecting with others can give.”
MORE ABOUT MICHAELTom Kaden, M. Div.
“One of my life’s mantras is to ‘know and be known.’ This happens by listening. Listening isn’t something I simply hope to embody and achieve professionally, but it is who I want to be at home with my wife and four kids, at church, at the grocery store, at the local coffee shop, on the phone, in the emails and text messages I send, and everywhere else where I have the chance to ‘know and be known.’”
MORE ABOUT TOMOur Team
Our team is a passionate group of individuals dedicated to creating a culture of caring through compassionate listening.
MEET THE TEAM10 Years of Compassionate Listening
On October 1, 2022 Someone To Tell It To was privileged to host a live streamed celebration of its first decade of service helping the world to listen. Watch now to join us in looking back at the last decade, listening to where we are now, and learning where we hope to grow into the future.
Diversity and Inclusion
Someone To Tell It To hears the stories of these human experiences every day as we live out our mission no matter our age, race, creed, nationality, gender, sexual identity, political identity, social station, or educational status. We all feel so many of the same things. Someone To Tell It To’s core values compel us to recognize the intrinsic, inherent, sacred worth of all human beings.
Who Is Someone?
Someone with a story to share. Someone who needs a friend. Someone who simply needs someone to listen. Someone who wants to see the world change through the power of listening.
Everyone is the “someone” in Someone To Tell It To. Everyone has a story worth sharing, and everyone can discover the power in showing up and listening with compassion.
ILA Listening in the Business Sector Award
In 2019, Someone To Tell It To was honored to accept the International Listening Association’s Listening in the Business Sector Award in recognition of our “mission of creating a caring culture that accompanies others to journeys toward deeper connections. [The] scope of impact is extensive and their work within the business sector is both impactful and impressive.”
“Thank you for just listening. Thank you for not trying to fix it but just for listening. It helps.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR LISTENING SERVICES“Thank you for the most inspirational and motivating workshop I have ever attended. I learned, I reflected, and I made connections – all because of you.”
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TRAININGS“I love Someone To Tell It To. It’s an easy thing to support.”
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