Our Legacy
“I’ve learned the value of improvising to maintain the quality of life I enjoy. I refuse to allow cancer to diminish my thirst for life.”
— Goldie Jones (Briana’s Grandmother)
The Healing Journeys Foundation is grounded in generations of resilience, love, and collective care. Our retreats and workshops are held on a historic family farm, preserved by generations of strong women who demonstrated remarkable resilience.
Meet Our Founder
Our founder, Dr. Briana Woods-Jaeger, comes from a long line of healers and community-builders and is passionate about growing this legacy. She grew up volunteering at Children’s Mercy Hospital, where her father, Dr. Gerald Woods, served as a hematologist-oncologist and division director for more than 40 years. At Children’s Mercy, Briana witnessed something that shaped her approach to healing: the profound power of hope, connection, and compassionate care. This seed was further nurtured through her years serving as a camp counselor at Camp Courage, a camp for children with sickle cell disease. Briana learned from her father, who co-founded and served as medical director of Camp Courage for 25 years, the transformative power of nurturing possibility in the lives of children and families navigating life-threatening disease. Her time at Camp Courage, alongside fellow counselors living with sickle cell and the remarkable campers, shaped her approach to healing and continues to inspire her to live courageously to this day.
"I felt that it was imperative to have such a camp for sickle cell children. I tell them, 'Pursue your dreams and passion; don't let sickle cell disease define you; and set your own limits.”
- Dr. Gerald Woods (Briana’s Dad)
Briana was also deeply influenced by her mother, Vedica Eastman, a psychiatric–mental health nurse who served throughout her career as a staff nurse, nurse administrator, nurse educator, and clinical nurse specialist. Watching her mother’s deep commitment to supporting healing for those facing mental health challenges inspired Briana to pursue a career as a psychologist. At the same time, her mother modeled how to be a fully present and loving parent, grounded in faith, hope, and love, while navigating life’s challenges.
"Hold tightly to your faith as you patiently persevere in your journey with a resilient soul, embracing hope, love, and blessings as you go."
-Vedica Eastman (Briana’s Mom)
As a psychologist, researcher, and educator, Briana dedicated her career to promoting resilience and healing among children and families who experienced trauma.
Then, life brought the work home
Briana supported her husband, Jeff, through his cancer journey, walking alongside him as both a caregiver and partner as they continued to live fully in the face of illness. After his death, her own journey through grief reshaped her work as a healer. She came to understand grief as both an immeasurable depth of pain and a profound expression of love—one that calls us to live more authentically and fully. Through this experience, she learned that our connections to those we lose physically can endure, guiding us toward lives of greater openness, depth, and meaning, where beauty and pain are able to coexist.
Healing Journeys Foundation is guided by these lived truths. Briana’s belief in changing the story around cancer from fear to hope, from confusion to connection, from surviving to living fully, is a continuation of Jeff’s legacy, her family’s values, and a lifetime commitment to creating spaces where people are fully seen, supported, and nurtured to pursue healing in a way that honors their unique experience.
“There is something special in you, and it’s going to make the world a much better place.”
-Dr. Jeffrey Jaeger (Briana’s Late Husband)
