Youth Action: Developing an Arts-Based Curriculum in a Thereapeutic Setting

Abstract

YOUth ACTion is a community-based arts initiative that I developed and offered as a single three-week program. This project was aimed at challenging me to develop a local partnership with a behavioral service agency and independently build a drama curriculum for at-risk youth who present with substance abuse diagnoses. YOUth ACTion was intended to aid my own professional development in terms of selecting appropriate activities and improving my facilitation skills; however, the larger objective of the program was to dissuade the youth from illegal activity by boosting their self-esteem, building a peer support system, and teaching creative methods of problem-solving. The philosophical foundations for the program, the exercises implemented, and my reflections are discussed in this paper.