Over the winter break the Activity Therapy department broke new ground by launching new all day groups for CP youth for the two week winter break from school. Built in a prime downtown location, the First United Methodist Church of Anchorage campus was their launching pad. We are so grateful that the church let us use their space, for our fifteen who participated in the program. Youth in the program participated in a number of therapeutic groups and team building activities while being introduced to Sanctuary concepts like Community Meetings (learn more about Community Meetings here: http://sanctuaryweb.com/TheSanctuar...). All activities had therapeutic intent and helped the youth progress in treatment.

As a show of Social Responsibility, one of the activities that our youth engaged in was making over three hundred sandwiches for the Brother Francis Shelter. The youth participated in group activities such as team sports and shooting pool in the gym as well as individualized art and craft activities. One of the highlights was duplicating the TV show, “Chopped” by making six different dishes and having staff and other youth judge them. If you haven’t tried organic Italian sausage with a Nutella topping you are missing out on a delicious experience!

While the youth were initially reserved to the idea of Sanctuary, it was not long until they fully adopted Community Meetings as the norm, with several meeting lasting over forty-five minutes while they shared and processed. Another great highlight of the program was an authentic presentation of Japanese Calligraphy led by our own Setsuko Sarafin, who formerly worked at the Japanese Embassy here in Anchorage. The youth enthusiastically participated and came away with a fresh appreciation and deepened understanding for both the art and culture of Japan.

Above is Activity Therapist Setsuko Sarafin teaching two of our youth Japanese Calligraphy.

Here we have Activity Therapist Debbie Lemon and Lexie Parrish co leading the Calligraphy Group.

For more information about AK Child & Family and the programs we offer, visit www.akchild.org!