|
|
Court News Ohio
Drum Therapy
Helps Troubled Teens
By Stephanie Beougher
August 25, 2015
After three months, 17-year-old Josh’s impression of therapeutic
drumming circle has evolved: “Seemed like it would be really hard to
express your feelings on a drum, but over time it becomes kind of easy
to express what you’re feeling with sound.”
“A lot of people think drum circle you just play drums, but drums are
just part of it. It’s mainly expressing feelings to the group and
sometimes you can do that using drums as a medium of doing so or you
could just talk,” he added.
The program is a collaborative effort between the Delaware County
Juvenile Court, Maryhaven, and the Central Ohio Symphony.
The symphony’s executive director and lead percussionist Warren Hyer
brought the idea to the juvenile court, and, in just a few short years,
he’s watched the program and the youth grow.
“It’s interesting to see the young people change. It’s sometimes slow,
sometimes it’s fast. There’s lots of little successes and we gain a lot
of pleasure in those very, very small successes,” Hyer said after a
recent session.
Hyer, and fellow percussionist Caitie Thompson, help facilitate the
sessions.
“My goal as a facilitator is to try to help each of my participants
communicate better with those around them and to realize that the world
is not completely out to get them,” Thompson said.
Judge David Hejmanowski is pleased with the partnership and stated: “I
think it highlights, though, the need for us to be willing to find
creative ways, innovative ways, of being successful with folks who have
very serious and very hard to break addictions.”
Rhonda Milner, clinical supervisor at Maryhaven in Delaware, follows a
written protocol for each session.
“There’s so many different skill-building things built into it:
leadership building, teamwork, self-esteem building, communication,
problem solving,” Milner said.
While a grant helps fund the program, it was a Kickstarter campaign
that allowed the symphony to commission an original musical piece that
incorporated the drumming circle and led the nearly sold-out crowd on a
journey of the program participants – from addiction to recovery and
graduation.
“These were young people who don’t want to do what you ask, they could
care less about anything, they’re not interested in anything, and they
played the entire piece with precision and total dedication,” Hyer said
of the March performance.
|
|
|
|
