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Dear friends of Creative Alternatives,
Over the next months CANY will be engaged
in the development of a three year strategic
plan. A committee of Board members and
staff are meeting regularly to imagine
CANY's future and to chart a course that
will help us best achieve our goals of
helping more children and adults through
our drama therapy programs.
Part of planning the future is looking
back to the past to appreciate the amazing
history that has brought us to our current
success. Next year CANY will celebrate
40 years of bringing the transformative
power of creativity through drama to those
struggling with a wide range mental health
issues. From a single workshop at Mount
Sinai Hospital Department of Psychiatry
in 1969, started by actress Margaret Ladd,
to over 1,400 therapeutic drama groups
currently provided annually at 18 partner
facilities, CANY has come a long way.
We have many loyal and long time friends,
Board members and staff to thank, many
of whom have been with us from the beginning.
We have a talented and skilled program
staff of gifted theater artists and drama
therapists, some of whom have run CANY
programs for 20 years. We have a method
of using drama and group therapy developed
over many years by our inspired Artistic
Director, Emily Nash. We have committed
and supportive partner facilities, with
some such as Mount Sinai Medical Center
and the Bronx Veterans Medical Center,
for many years. We have Board members,
such as Chair Emeritus Ellen Kealy and
Treasurer Joe Shugart, who have truly
made it all possible for many years through
their commitments.
As we plan for the future, we do so with
a deep gratitude to the past and to all
of you who have made CANY the success
it is today and who hopefully will continue
to help us build CANY into the future.
Best wishes for Spring!
Jonathan Hilton
Executive Director
New
Development Director joins CANY
We
are pleased to welcome Donna Ellaby
to the CANY staff as our new full
time Development Director. Donna
served as a nonprofit director
and consultant for close to twenty
years and has extensive experience
in fund development. As a community
activist, she has worked on a
range of social justice issues
including affordable housing,
labor rights and immigrant organizing.
After
a workshop with Theater of the
Oppressed Laboratory in 1999,
Ms. Ellaby recognized the healing
power of drama and made the decision
to return to school. After completing
a Creative Arts Therapy Program
at the New School, she entered
NYU's Drama Therapy Program, receiving
her MA in 2005.
Stepping
into the role of development director
at CANY will enable Ms. Ellaby
to combine her commitment to drama
therapy with her expertise in
nonprofit development.
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CANY
Training Group with Social Workers
by Lucy McLellan, RDT, LCAT
CANY Program Director
Creative
Alternatives was recently invited
by Andrus Children's Center in Yonkers,
where we run ongoing drama therapy
programs, to run a drama therapy
training group with Social Work
interns for the second consecutive
year. Such an invitation provides
Creative Alternatives with a wonderful
opportunity to share drama therapy
concepts and techniques, increasing
knowledge about alternative modalities
with mental health professionals
in training.
The
group focused on the theme of community,
providing the interns with an opportunity
to explore some of the rewards and
challenges they face on a day to
day basis within the communities
in which they work. After creating
a long list of possible communities
to explore, from school to family
to workplace, the group chose to
create a drama about a gang community.
Each member of the group circle
created and took on the role of
a fictional gang member, each with
their own story to tell - stories
of fear, stories of connection and
stories of hope for a better future.
As the drama progressed, the fictional
narrative created by group members
allowed for the exploration of rich
life themes - what it means to belong,
the importance of having a "family"
around you, as well as issues of
peer pressure and how to escape
a violent history that has preceded
you. The interns gave their all
to the process. Through the enactment
of a gang community, they seemed
able to inhabit the experiences
of some of their clients as well
as reflect upon their own need for
healthy community and connection
at work and at home.
We
look forward to returning to this
rich training experience again next
year!
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The Whole
Story: from a new CANY program, Esperanza,
a community residence for men in recovery
By Heidi Landis,RDT,LCAT
CANY Program Manager
Creative Alternatives has recently begun
a new group in partnership with Palladia,
Inc at one of their community residences
called Esperanza. Esperanza is a temporary
home for 80 single men providing short
term case management and substance abuse
services while they re-build their lives.
Length of treatment is subject to the
needs of each individual, but averages
6 to 9 months. CANY Group leader Dusty
Evans and I have embarked on working with
these men and in the five weeks that we
have been with them so far it has been
an amazing experience. Although the clients
were somewhat wary of us as we entered
on the first day we are slowly beginning
to build the trust and therapeutic bond
that is so important in the work we do.
When we arrived in the group last week
there was a general sense of frustration
and exhaustion, so we began by asking
each member if we were to write a book
called Exhaustion what would the chapters
be called. The answers we received ranged
from Frustration of Fighting the healthcare
system, to Not being Listened To, to Lack
of Education and Knowledge. One older
gentleman in the group, who has been fairly
quiet in the past groups, raised his hand
and said "I am exhausted by my own
Questioning". Just as we were about
to try to move some of these titles into
some scenes another member of the group
said,"Wait a minute, this is all
true but it isn't the whole story, we
have to remember that." He asked
if we could write a second book called
Energy. Each member contributed a chapter
which we turned into a group poem.
I'm energized by gratitude
I'm energized by education and knowledge
and coming into a program
I'm energized by choices and meeting better
people.
I'm energized by exercise
I'm energized by new opportunities
I'm energized by proving other people
wrong, by being able to excel
I'm energized by a power greater than
myself.
I am energized by doing what I need to
do and not what I want to do
I'm energized by acceptance, perseverance,
diligence and determination
I'm energized by defining myself and not
being defined by others
I'm energized by respect and love, by
enthusiasm, deliverance, recovery and
time
I'm energized by saying what I feel and
hope.
I'm energized by celebrating my accomplishments
I'm energized by being proactive, getting
the opportunity, and reinventing myself
I'm energized by experiencing who I really
am.
The men felt so excited
about this poem that they asked if we
could type it up, enlarge it and put it
in their lounge. Their need to express
the whole story is where I saw the hope
for these men who have been through so
much in their lives.
ANNUAL
THEATRE BENEFIT: Please
click here to
learn more and buy tickets.
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Thank you for reading our newsletter.
We encourage you to forward this newsletter
to others who may also be interested in
CANY's work with traumatized children
and adults.
CANY brings hope and healing to individuals
impacted by a wide variety of circumstances,
including abused and/or neglected children,
homeless families, domestic violence survivors,
individuals living with HIV / AIDS, and
more.
We welcome you to contact us for more
information or to arrange a visit to observe
a CANY group.
Thank you for your support!
.......................................
"Leave
me alone", I say
but when I
come into the group
all this goes
out the window
I'm sleeping
upstairs-
I get up out
of bed
When I hear
the announcement
It sparkles
up my mood
The whole
world is a stage
And I'm just
crazy about it
-- by CANY group member
.......................................
Thanks to Our Funders
We wish to thank the following foundations
for their support this fiscal year.
The Tow Foundation
The Disabled American Veterans Charitable
Trust
The Marion E. Kenworthy-Sarah H. Swift
Foundation
The Heckscher Foundation for Children
The Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr. Foundation
The Albert and Bertram Linder Foundation
The Kealy Family Foundation
The Victor R. Wright Foundation
Roy J. Zuckerberg Family Foundation
The Blum Family Foundation
James Heller Charitable Unitrust
Daryl Roth Productions, LTD.
The Donald R. Mullen Family Foundation
The Philip D. & Tammy S. Murphy Foundation
The Swig Foundation
The Karen & Kevin Kennedy Foundation
The Reba Judith Sandler Foundation
The Boehm Family Foundation
Eric P. Sheinberg Foundation
Charina Foundation
The Malcolm Gibbs Foundation
The Janet Levy Charitable Trust
Also we thank our Board members
and the many generious individuals whose
support has helped us surpass our Annual
Appeal goal for this year.
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