Therapeutic Soulspeak
For At-Risk Youth

THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK: AN AIDE TO THERAPY FOR AT-RISK CHILDREN
(AGES 8 - 18)

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is a revolutionary program that gives at-risk children a positive way to easily express deep, unresolved conflicts and fears.

For further information on programs and seminars contact us.

Free samples of SOULSPEAK:

Samples of SOULSPEAK poems written by at-risk children can be downloaded for free (or you can request an actual book by going to Sarasota Poetry Theatre Press. and selecting At-Risk Youth.

To hear what SOULSPEAK sounds like when used by at-risk children go to SOULSPEAK Studio and select At-Risk Youth. Once there, you can download a sample of any album for free using Real Audio or MS Wav (or you can request an actual album).

Specially prepared music is available (SOULSPEAK MUSIC) for those conducting SOULSPEAK programs. You can hear samples for free and order specific tapes and CDs by going to SOULSPEAK Studio and selecting SOULSPEAK

Summary:

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK for at-risk children gives children a way to easily express unresolved conflicts and fears. It helps break down the increasing isolation of children, an isolation that often leads to the type of violence seen recently in our nation's schools. Over 2,500 at-risk children in over 25 schools and institutions have participated in intensive programs since its inception in 1994. The at-risk populations that have participated include children with dyslexia, ADD, autism, learning disabilities, as well as those with severe anger and emotional problems. All SOULSPEAK programs make provision for instructing teachers and counselors in the SOULSPEAK process so that the programs will become self -perpetuating.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK taps into the unconscious almost effortlessly and is both healing and cathartic. It is a non-traumatic process that uses the oldest form of poetry, an oral, story-telling poetry, to allow children to easily express their deepest feelings. It is also a poetry that young people find instantly appealing. It is performed in antiphonal fashion (speaker-responder) to slow music, and is learned almost instantaneously by anyone, even slow learners. No previous knowledge of poetry, or even reading and writing is required. The only population that cannot use SOULSPEAK are the moderately and severely retarded. Our experience has shown that a large number of children continue to use SOULSPEAK on their own and even teach it to their parents.

SOULSPEAK is healing in nature for both speakers and listeners and has been proven to dramatically increase self-esteem, self-awareness and, because of SOULSPEAK's unique communal nature, empathy for others. The poems spoken out in Therapeutic SOULSPEAK sessions also provide an extremely accurate diagnostic tool for counselors and therapists.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has been used at the following at-risk schools and institutions: Bradenton Drug Treatment Community, a federal and state project jointly conducted by the Florida Department of Corrections and Operation PAR; Myakka Stop Camp; Gulf Coast Marine Institute (Venice & Bradenton); Cyesis Teen Parent Program; Pace Center for Girls; Just for Girls; Adolescent Recovery Center at Manatee Glens; Oak Park School; YMCA Triad South; YMCA Triad North; Sarasota Foundation Middle School; YMCA Character House; Venice High/New Deal; Glenallen Elementary; Opportunity High; Girls Inc.; Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee and Sarasota Counties; Clewiston Youth Development Academy; La Belle Youth Development Academy.

Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is uniquely powerful in that it taps the unconscious to easily give children a means of both deep self-expression and sharing of emotions and is considered by many therapists and counselors a powerful first step that can be used in any therapeutic process. As an aid to therapy, Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has allowed many youngsters to express themselves in ways they could not through conventional therapies, and has thus allowed them to gain enough self-knowledge and esteem to use those therapies more successfully.

In some cases, it has reached youths who could not or would not respond to the more conventional therapies. Therapeutic SOULSPEAK has no counterpart in its ability to reach children often considered unreachable.

Justin Spring, the Artistic Director of the Theatre, attributes the success of Therapeutic SOULSPEAK to its ability to access the unconscious in a way that young people find irresistible. Spring says, "SOULSPEAK is based on the very first art: oral tribal poetry, a spontaneous, communal multi-voiced poetry that is in our DNA; a poetry that tribes used to express their sorrows and joys, and unlike the arts that developed after the invention of writing (which are the sophisticated arts forms we have today) it is one that can be immediately learned by anyone."

Grants from the Bates Foundation, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Selby Foundation, Woman's Exchange, and the Venice Foundation have funded Therapeutic SOULSPEAK for at -risk children
 

Who Will Benefit From Therapeutic Soulspeak And Why
Our experience has shown that THERAPEUTIC SOULSPEAK will be readily picked up and enthusiastically used by ANY GROUP OF AT-RISK YOUTHS. Although Therapeutic SOULSPEAK is not a therapy in itself, it has proven to be a valuable aid to therapy, in that it develops a new sense of self-awareness, self-worth, and empathy for others.

Which At-Risk Programs Will Benefit