About Surrendered Hearts Ministries
Surrendered Hearts Ministries was founded by Heleen Woest to help women worldwide with food-related struggles through Biblical principles and practical guidelines.
You can find various free resources such as information about food addiction, bulimia, stress eating, emotional eating, compulsive overeating, and binge eating on this website. Heleen’s ebook God will I ever be free? is also available on this site as a free download.
More resources include a video-driven study Appetite for Freedom that consists of a member workbook, a leader guide, and a DVD set. It can be used in small groups or recovery style groups.
We also offer a 12 Week Online Program, Women Struggling with Food. This is a Biblical based program that can be used in the comfort of your own home.
The information pertaining to women struggling with food on this website is for spiritual enhancement and guidance only. It is not to be treated as a substitute for professional eating disorder treatment by a physician or counselor.
Heleen Woest MA, LPC, NCC
Heleen is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She obtained an M.A. in Counseling at Western Seminary in Portland Oregon. She is also an author and speaker on the topic of food-related struggles.
Heleen loves to work with clients from all orientations and walks of life. She is a Chrisitan, and has a background in working with individuals and groups who have spiritual concerns, however, out of care and respect for her clients, she will never impose her personal beliefs or opinions onto clients.
Heleen was born and grew up in South Africa. She immigrated to the USA with her family over two decades ago. This experience caused her to be culturally sensitive and to relate to the difficulties many people face in adapting to a new country, language, and culture.
She loves to spend time with her four children and husband of 29 years, and her hobbies are playing piano and painting with oils. She attends a well known Christian church in Portland Oregon. When she experienced first hand the huge part that spirituality played in dealing with her eating disorders, she reached out to women at her local church with similar struggles.
In 2007 Heleen wrote an eBook about her own struggle with eating disorders. She made this available to the public for free: God will I ever be free?
She also developed a 12-week online program, Women Struggling with Food, based on the Bible and material by well-known Christian authors, counselors, and doctors. Her online program has been successfully used by women around the globe for a number of years now.
In 2012, with the help of friends at her local church, she also developed a video-driven Bible study, Appetite for Freedom. which is an excellent resource for women’s small groups or recovery style groups. The workbooks and leader guides are available on this website and on Amazon.
Heleen worked with individuals and groups dealing with substance abuse, homelessness, and mental illness at Union Gospel Mission’s Life Change Program for Men and Women. She also worked at the Domestic Violence Resource Center in Hillsboro Oregon and completed professional training in assisting victims of domestic violence.
For the past twenty years, Heleen worked in the field of lay counseling and facilitated groups for individuals exposed to trauma as well as those dealing with eating disorders and food addiction.
More Resources:
Read Heleen’s Statement of Faith
Click here if you want Heleen to speak at your next women’s event
Click here for professional counseling services in Oregon
Click here to learn about the 12 Week Program
Click here to read Heleen’s ebook for free
The information pertaining to women struggling with food on this website is for enhancement and guidance only. It is not to be treated as a substitute for professional eating disorder treatment by a physician or counselor.
Please click here if you have an emergency or experience suicidal thoughts