Better Than Dope

Living is a word David never understood. To him living meant
running for his life, from gangs and guns. It meant trying to avoid drugs
and drinking. It meant being afraid. When he was growing up, he lived in
a bad neighborhood. Down the street from him was a group of the worst
people you would ever want to meet. He had to walk pass them every day.
In his neighborhood, death was an everyday thing; he fell asleep to the
sound of gunshots.

AT HOME, HIS MOTHER WOULD IGNORE DAVID and his sisters. She loved
to drink with her men friends. When she let one of them move in, he would
beat everyone up. Going to school was no better. He figured the only way
to fit in was by using drugs and drinking. When he joined the Junior
Reserves Officers Training Corps (JROTC), he found the common link was
doing drugs. Because of his habits, he was failing his classes. During
his sophomore year, he went to class a total of nine days. Soon enough,
he just didn't go. He hated himself so much he even attempted suicide. He
tried hanging himself and overdosing on aspirin.

At about that time he also started to eat a lot. In less than a
year, he had gained over a hundred pounds. He was so alienated from his
family that he barely spoke to his mom. Whenever she asked to talk he
would tell her to go to hell. Then at the age of 16, David had a mild
heart attack. Drugs were the reason behind his heart problems. Right then
he decided to quit.

After that summer, he enrolled into school. His guidance counselor
told David about our program, Project Self Discovery. PSD is a
community-based after-school program that provides artistic alternatives
to teenagers who have problems with school, their families or the
community. Participants use music, art and dance to reach their goals.
David signed up for the music program. Although his story is unique, his
needs are similar to the majority of those who participate in the
project. Artistic activities have proven to be powerful antidotes to
emotional distress, drug abuse, crime and violence. In fact, PSD has
evolved into a model for treating a broad spectrum of teenage
problems.

At PSD, you will find youth with varied backgrounds and behaviors.
Betty Jo, a 15-year-old African American, describes her mother as "a
bitch" and "evil," and Betty Jo has attempted suicide twice. Her art
teacher says she is interacting nicely with other students and
"demonstrates an orderly, precise and methodical way of working on
projects."

Rosa, a 15-year-old Latina, has decided to never again "bang" with
her sect of the gang Gangster Disciples. Five of her close friends have
died or have been murdered during the past year. She is considered highly
motivated by her music teacher.

The usual outcome for these kids is enormous frustration and
definite failure. These teenagers have different types of mental
disorders and behavioral problems and come from radically diverse
backgrounds. In the United States 10% to 20% of the 30 million youths
between ages 10 and 17 experience emotional and/or behavioral problems.
Forty percent of their waking time is "discretionary." In fact, the
majority of teenage crimes are committed between three in the afternoon
and midnight. For these teenagers a form of positive self-expression is
vital.

The inspiration for PSD came from viewing substance abuse as just
one of many forms of dangerous pleasure-seeking behaviors. Any action
that deposits dopamine in the brain's reward center--be it alcohol, sex
or cocaine--can trigger addiction. Yet rather than drugs, people can
actually bring about self-induced changes in brain chemistry. The most
important psychological challenge of our time is to bring about these
changes through optimal living or natural highs.

Drugs and alcohol are really just "chemical prostitutes,"
counterfeit molecules that compromise the clockwork of nature's most
complex and delicate entity--the human brain. According to the annual
Monitoring the Future Survey, more than 40% of high-school 10th graders
reported having "been drunk" sometime in the past year. About 35% of high
school seniors engaged in binge drinking (having five or more drinks at a
time), and approximately 20% of high school seniors smoked pot.

PSD was founded in September 1992 as the result of a national grant
through the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The grant was awarded
to Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, whose mission is to provide cross-cultural
arts expression to audiences, artists and students. The project was
designed to show that natural highs could serve as viable alternatives to
drug abuse and associated high-risk lifestyles. Teenagers have been
targeted because of their extreme vulnerability to substance abuse, crime
and violence. The most common causes of death among young adults between
ages 16 and 24 are homicide and suicide. Here, Juan talks about his brush
with death:

THE 'HOOD

They came up the dirt hill. There were eight or nine of them and
there was just six of us. My homeboy gave me a .25. It was already
loaded, cocked and ready to bust some caps. So I went up to them and
said, "I know you, the punk motherfucker who tagged up my locker. You
disrespected my 'hood. Just kill me, motherfucker. Get it over with." So
he pulls out this crowbar. And I pulled out the .25. I put it to his head
and said, "What 'hood you from?" He said "CMG Blood." And I said "WHAT
FUCKIN' 'HOOD YOU FROM?" And he said, "CMG Blood." Then he said, "Crip."
I made that fool cry and shit. When you got a strap, you feel like you
got the power to do anything in the world. You can make anybody scared of
you with a strap.

Creative projects do have the ability to provide relief for young
people in the midst of such violenece. While dance connects us to
sensuality, music provides a safe vehicle for the expression of emotional
unrest. Painting and drawing provide an opportunity to visualize topics
initially too difficult for words. In Paula's script, it is evident that
through writing and drama she is discovering important means to transcend
the wounds of her childhood:

THE FAMILY

He's my father. I don't even know what that means. I don't even
know what a father is. I used to think he was someone who took me
fishing, or maybe camping. Someone who I could talk to, who took care of
me. But if you ask me, I'd say a father is someone who beats up his
family. A father is someone who screams, yells and cusses out his family.
A father is someone who breaks things, smashes things, ruins things. I
HATE HIM! I HATE THIS HOUSE WHEN HE'S IN IT! It's like a war zone and he
is the enemy. Every second, I'm looking over my shoulder to see if he's
coming after me. He didn't tear up my drawings. He tore up my dreams. I
HATE HIM! I hate it when he beats on my mom. I hate seeing my mother on
the floor, I hate feeling like I have to protect her from the enemy and I
HATE THAT THE ENEMY IS HIM. WHY AM I PROTECTING THE ENEMY? He's my
father. I love him.

At-risk teens experience traditional talk therapies as invasive and
persecutory. We have discovered that adventure-based counseling, hands-on
games and physical challenges--like walking on stilts to "feel ten feet
tall"--are far more engaging than standard lecture presentations. A kid
who has a strong drive for thrill-seeking and novelty can avoid gang
violence by satisfying his needs through the performance of poetry,
hip-hop or rap. Almost magically, the conga, paintbrush or guitar can
become formidable substitutes for pistols or joints.

It is no secret that people who are hopelessly dependent on drugs
can still participate in the creative process. But the necessary
complement to artistic development is learning to restructure habitual
patterns of thought and feelings that trigger destructive actions. To
this end all PSD youth participate in Pathways to Self Discovery, a
24-session life-skills curriculum. Teenagers discover improved means to
cope with frustration, disappointment and anger.

David describes the course: "We gathered in a theater and talked
about our past experiences with gangs, drugs and all the other things
that teens face. We also talked about ways we could avoid these
situations. I tried to be quiet, but my mouth would just shoot open. When
it came to bad situations, I thought that I had a lot to offer the
group."

David was making great progress. He had successfully embarked on
the first stage of our three-tier program, each phase providing the
foundation for the next level of growth and change. The three parts
include the intervention program, the graduate program and the mentorship
program. The last program allows graduate students, who have demonstrated
leadership skills, to serve as facilitators and mentors to youth in the
initial intervention program.

Another such course designed to transform is the Rites of Passage.
In this adventure-based course, the kids are hooked up to a rope that's
connected to a wire between two large poles. The object is to proceed
from one end to the other. "The ropes course really scared me," says
David. "I kept thinking, 'I am going to die.'" When David hooked up his
harness, though, everyone in the group started to cheer for him. "I got
the strength to hurry through the course and when I got down, it felt as
though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders."

The results of PSD have been impressive. In the past nine years the
project has received 1,255 referrals from Denver-area youth advocates. We
have shown that artistic endeavor and adventure-based counseling are
effective antidotes to drugs and other high-risk behaviors. Not only do
participants show test scores reflecting improved mental health and
family functioning; they also reveal decreased reliance on negative peer
influences and decreased drug and alcohol use. These positive outcomes
are sustained long after graduation.

As David puts it, because of PSD he has "become a better person."
He has learned how to care for others and himself. "Without this
experience, I would probably be living on the streets using drugs," he
says. Today David shares a house with a friend, has a full-time job, and
visits his mother once a week. He has also started boxing to relieve
stress and lose weight. And for the last four years, he has been
completely drug-free. He plans to go on to college and major in business
and computer science. "PSD showed me that the world is full of
possibilities. The program also showed me that when a door is closed a
window is open. What does living mean to me now? Living is knowing that
you are not alone."

Harvey Milkman, Ph.D., is professor of psychology at Metropolitan
State College of Denver. He is principal investigator and director of
Project Self-Discovery.