A Residential Shelter for Adolescent Drug Addicts

Dance To Live continues to conducted 4 classes per month at the Nexus Recovery Center.  The need for treatment for teenage addiction is not abating and, if one factors in the impact of such addiction on the children of those teens, then the imperative to offer assistance to these young mothers becomes abundantly clear.

Nexus Recovery Center is a place to recover from addiction and learn life skills among adolescent females who are all struggling with the same problem.  These are young women who want to be good mothers – but just don’t know how to cope.  Frequently, they’ve had little education, were pregnant in their early teens and live in a culture where becoming a mother at an early age is, if not expected, is accepted.

We are impressed as we facilitate the girls and their children to learn how to express feelings through movement, support other young women in their group, appreciate what is being offered to  them, and voice love and gratitude for members of their family who they know care about them.   The girls are young and hopeful, and because of this we know we can make a difference in their confidence, trust, strength (both physical and mental), and performance.  Accomplishments earned in the Dance To Live classes prepare them to succeed in other challenges.  If one can master a difficult Yoga pose, the balance required for that transcends into other aspects of their lives.  Exercise, expression, music, motion, release from daily struggles in a healthful setting - all these are tools for their future survival.

We continue to be rewarded by our contact with these adolescents.  They are young and strong and possess the ability and the desire to make changes to their lifestyle.  By the mere fact that their children are housed at the treatment center with them and receive classes from Dance To Live, albeit separate classes that are choreographed for their age group, they share a common healing experience with their mothers.

Thanks to all of you who have supported Dance To Live in its mission to provide movement as a healthy and effective method for a child to transcend the challenges of the moment and to work toward emotional and physical wellbeing. It is a means of expression, connection, co-operation, an outlet for emotion and a source of joy for children of all ages, backgrounds and physical abilities.

Nexus Recovery Center continues to be a successful challenge for Dance To Live.  It fulfills our mission statement.

"Dance to Live!  provides grants for expressive movement and dance therapy in memory of Michelle Parma.  Our mission is to raise funds to support community programs that provide dance therapy as a means of expression, connection, co-operation, an outlet for emotion and a source of joy.  Dance to Live uses dance therapy to connect beauty with one’s self."  The last sentence so very well expresses what we accomplish at Nexus Recovery Center.

The adolescent girls we work with have already experienced poverty, dead-end education, hopelessness, drug addiction - and ever more frequently motherhood.  The children are housed at the residential shelter with their mothers and we have had an explosion of young children in our classes.  Since most of these children are developmentally delayed (because of their home environment) we work with the school to tailor classes around what they are currently being taught.  At this point, we are dividing our children's classes into two groups - the very young children and then the elementary age children.  Their mothers all attend one adolescent movement class where lesson plans are developed to address their most pressing needs.

It's September now, and before we know it the holidays will be here.  Observing a class at Nexus last Thanksgiving was a surprising lesson in gratitude.  We sat in a circle after the class and each of us said what we were grateful for.  So many adolescents expressed gratitude for support from specific family members.  So many knew they were loved and had not been abandoned.  There was so much hope and raw love in the room.  This is why we have made Nexus Recovery Center one of our projects.  We sincerely appreciate your support through donations which allow this work to continue.

Sincerely,

Susan Parma - Susan.Parma@DanceToLive.org