By Susan Parma | President
Dance to Live is now moving into our 8th year of serving the adolescents and their children at Nexus Recovery Center. It has been a wonderful and fulfilling partnership with Nexus to work with these young women striving to create a drug-free future for themselves and their children. As we introduced Yoga and dance therapy to Nexus 8 years ago, it is telling that the service agency is moving in the direction of incorporating "mindfulness" into their treatment program. Just as Dance To Live has always stressed body and mind awareness, now the concepts of Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention are being incorporated into the treatment program. We love it!
Cindy Seamans, PhD, Licensed Psychologist, director of the Adult Women and Detox Programs at Nexus says that a “mindfulness-based program is especially effective with Nexus clients in very early recovery who have trauma histories and co-occurring anxiety and other mental health disorders. It is a great tool for them to use to fight cravings and the type of impulsive self-destructive decisions that lead them to relapse”.
This concept is the essence of Dance To Live. We have always accepted that young women and children who have chosen to abuse drugs are dealing with far more than just drug abuse. To stay off drugs, these women have to be provided skills so that they can communicate and release the frustrations and trauma in their lives. Dance to Live has chosen the vehicle of Yoga and movement – so that what cannot be said with words can be transmitted and released through movement.
Nexus has recently added a new program for the Pregnant/Parenting Women with Children (PPWC) Residential Program – one of only a handful of programs in the nation that allows women 18 and older to bring as many as three children with them while they are in residential drug treatment. This program includes parenting education, life skills, family counseling, and ensures healthy birth outcomes for infants. Moms in the program that give birth to babies while in recovery, return to Nexus from the hospital to continue their treatment with their infants. The typical length of stay is 60-90 days, and 72 healthy babies were born to moms at Nexus between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014.
Dance to Live welcomes these parents and children into our groups. Once the new children adjust to their altered living arrangements, they welcome the break from their year-round classrooms. Recently we have had so many young children in our groups that we have had to split the children into two groups (younger and older). That’s great – as long as they come we will provide the service they need.
We strive to provide these young women and their children with resources they can use in their daily lives to create healthy and productive lifestyles in the future for themselves and their children. Without your assistance our programs would be severely curtailed. As always we are grateful for your support. Together we can create the opportunity for a brighter future for them and their families. Thank you!
Suan Parma
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