Jack's Story Tagging, cutting, depressed and acting out, Jack was headed for gang life.

From Gang Art to Healing Arts
Jack was tagging (spray painting gang graffiti), which is often how kids first connect with gangs.

Though his outward behavior was aggressive, Jack lacked confidence and grew depressed. He started “cutting,” a form of self-mutilation that often becomes addictive.

He already had been in counseling for a year because his behavior was destructive to his family and classroom environments. His parents had tried everything and felt that their only remaining option was to send him away from home where he could receive more intensive care.

Jack was only 12.

Fortunately, his teacher offered one more option. Had they heard of Hollygrove?

Intensive Approach

At Hollygrove, an EMQ FamiliesFirst agency, Jack began therapy that was much more intensive – 4½ hours a day, 5 days a week – but allowed him to remain at home with his family. He participated in several kinds of therapies a day, including individual, group,  art, recreation and interaction with animals.

His family also received counseling two times a month to support them, help the whole family heal and learn new ways to work together.

As his tagging skills had hinted, Jack had real artistic ability. Over a yearlong period he created two large mixed media paintings and helped with a mural.

Jack was successfully expressing himself through his art. Still, he struggled, and family life remained strained.

Hidden Talent Heals

Then Jack participated in a creative cooking group, for recreation therapy and life skills training. His instructor soon came to rely on his food prepping skills and, even more, on his natural leadership abilities working with the other kids.

Most important, Jack discovered a hidden talent that he really enjoyed. He also realized his gift for leading others and felt his confidence grow.

One evening, he went home and offered to make dinner for his family. It was a remarkable first step in bringing this fractured family back together. From then on, Jack’s dinner became a weekly event.

Jack continued to heal and thrive in the Hollygrove program and “graduated” at age 14. Now instead of the nightmare of depression and aggression and a future tied to gang life, he dreams of becoming a counselor one day. He can see himself helping kids just like the people who helped him.

Art and cooking seem like “extras” in a therapeutic environment, but Jack’s success shows how providing multiple therapies and therapeutic enrichment activities can leverage a child’s healing. Those “extras” come at a cost that only you can make possible.

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Confidentiality of EMQ children and families has been preserved
through the use of models. Some stories may be composites of multiple cases.