PILOT PROGRAM NOW OPEN FOR REFERRALS: As of 2009, with a matching grant from Institution for Saving’s Depot Square Charitable Trust, Bright Happy Power launched a pilot program for teens living with loss and trauma. This includes siblings of pediatric cancer patients, as well as other teens living with challenges in their families (see below).

Details:

1. 1)Meets for one hour each week on-site at S.A.F.E. Studio and is facilitated by one of their licensed expressive therapists (to learn about their other programs, visit www.safestudio.org). Group will continue to meet through December 2009.
   

2. 2)Serves 6-10 adolescents aged 13-18 years old who live on Boston’s North Shore.
   

3. 3)Requires one-year commitment to come each week (versus drop-in) by teen participants, with flexibility for periodic absences due to vacations, camps, etc.
   

4. 4)Designed for a newly-identified constituency of teens living through loss and trauma (bereaved teens who have lost a sibling or parent, teens who continue to live with the challenges of a family member diagnosed with a life-threatening or acutely-chronic illness, and/or teens who are survivors of accidents or non-medical and non-domestic violence/abuse traumas).
   

5. 5)Includes multi-media art therapy in a confidential peer group setting, with access to materials such as paints, ceramics, paper arts, etc.
   

6. 6)Serves individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds. Fees for services are established on a sliding scale depending on participant’s ability to pay. We do not discriminate on the basis of income, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
   

REFERRALS: If you wish to make a confidential referral, you may either call im*P.A.C.T. therapist and peer group facilitator -- Cara Riley Doran, MA, ATR, LMHC -- directly at 617.538.6905 or email pact@brighthappypower.org.

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2. WHY? Because when Jessie’s sister Sarah needed to know she was not alone, there was no place to go. No one like her. Now we want other young people, like Sarah who grieves the death of her little sister due to leukemia, to learn that they aren’t alone.
   

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4. YOUNG PEOPLE WHO FALL THROUGH THE CRACKS...Not all trauma comes from medical diagnosis, or a background of surviving abuse, crime and violence. Sometimes it comes from surviving (as a witness and family member) other catastrophic situations: severe illnesses inside the family such as cancer or cystic fibrosis, natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, accidents such as fire or collisions, and/or other life-threatening or long-term traumatic situations.
   

1. Such teens are at-risk. They often seem healthy and stable, but inside their minds and hearts, they are on roller-coaster rides. Suddenly grades plummet. Trouble brews. Attitudes change. Attention spans dwindle. Participation in sports and hobbies and clubs changes. Withdrawal occurs.
   

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3. These teens are quite vulnerable; this is known both anecdotally and is cited among psych-social staff at Childrens Hospital Boston-Dana Farber’s Cancer Care program. Siblings are now recognized as a constituency which has been -- until recently -- under-served, under-studied and unknown. Dana Farber and Childrens Hospital Boston are just beginning to fund and staff support programs specifically to help siblings of acutely-ill patients. The group called SuperSibs is cooperating in a nationwide study of siblings of cancer patients.
   

TRUST and HOPE by WORKING with EXPERIENCED CARE PROVIDERS: Working with the staff of S.A.F.E. Studio, this pilot program on Boston’s North Shore offers a peer-group setting for such teens who need a place to go, to be, to realize they’re not alone. S.A.F.E. Studio, with whom we entrust our vulnerable youth, is an organization that currently works -- through art and expressive therapy -- primarily with young survivors of abuse and trauma situations. They are reaching out to this new population, with the encouragement and support of Bright Happy Power. Because we know...we are survivors, too.