Substance use creates consistent problems
within communities as it rips individuals from their homes, peer associations,
communities, academic supports, churches, youth organizations, sports, clubs,
and other connections.
While in the recovery program, our adolescents are learning
to rebuild these connections, as well as form new connections to their
communities to help sustain their recovery efforts. As a part of the month of November,
Adolescents at the Kirksville site engaged in a three-week art program
addressing what gratitude means, and how to identify things in their lives they
have taken for grated prior to engaging in programs of recovery.
In our first week of exploring gratitude, clients were asked
to define gratitude. Various responses
were given including being thankful for things that they have, etc, but one of
my favorite responses came from a 16 year old female who stated, “Gratitude is
respecting the things that you have, and putting your heart into the things you
are glad for.” Clients were then asked
to generate a list of 50 things they were grateful for, which, despite initial
resistance toward, was a very insightful activity for them. Based on these lists, individuals created
gratitude collages, reflecting these things in life they have come to “respect”
and “put their heart into”. Here are a
few examples of what our clients came up with:
The following week in group, clients reviewed their
definition of gratitude, and were again asked to identify at least one thing
they were thankful for that day. Then, a
challenge was impressed upon them that if they were not given any art supplies
for the group, and were simply given items found in the trash and recycled materials,
would they be able to come up with and create an original piece of art? Essentially, they were challenged to make
something out of nothing. A lot of clients
who come to our program come at a very low point in their life where they have
lost so many things. So, when they enter
into a recovery program, they quite literally feel as though they have
“nothing” left. This project enabled our
clients to piece together bit by bit a project they initially had no vision
for, with tools, concepts, and materials they were given, much like the stages
and phases of their individual recovery.
On the third week of our thanksgiving, I originally
anticipated our clients to be very bored with addressing the concept of
gratitude, as Thanksgiving was a few days away and the concept of “giving
thanks” had been drilled into their heads for the past few weeks. However, I was quite surprised by the hearts
and attitudes of clients who were genuinely examining things in their lives
they had been taking for granted, and ways they were willing to address and repair
these severed relationships and ties. In
this week of exploring gratitude, clients were asked to create an original rap,
poem, or short story, depicting thankfulness.
Here is one example from a 16 year old female, who wrote about what
Thanksgiving means to her:
Thanksgiving Poem
I wake up to the smells I enjoy.
My friends and family gathering
with joy.
Spending quality time is the best,
with the ones you have missed.
Oh how I feel so blessed.
The turkey is basting,
it will be quite tasty.
I’m quiet excited for our meal.
We dish our plates, while we conversate,
about how our lives have been.
It’s been so long…
That I’ve been gone,
and I realize how much
I have missed…
So on this Thanksgiving,
I thank God for bringing
me and my family back together…
In moving forward through the holiday season, the Kirksville
Adolescents are going to be moving into a time of “giving back,” and are
focusing on ways they can take things they are learning not to take for
granted, and pour back out into the lives and programs of individuals in their
lives and communities.
-Natasha VanderWeide
About the author: Natasha VanderWeide is the A.R.T.C. Regional Coordinator for PFH's Central Region.
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