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Camp helps children affected by family addiction

Commercial-News - 10/22/2019

Oct. 22--DANVILLE -- As 8-year-old Lily Nord tapped her forehead and her chin, she repeated some of the phrases Emotional Freedom Technique Expert Brad Yates talked about in a video last week.

She and eight other girls, from elementary to high school, recently participated in Soul Garden Recovery Center's new Camp Care4U at Friendly Town at Lincoln Park.

The two-day camp is geared to children who have addiction problems in their family to heal and break the cycle of addiction.

One camper saw her mother with a drug needle in her arm, while others have seen family members overdose.

The campers one day last week on fall break from schools watched Yates' video about "tapping." It is also called Emotional Freedom Technique, a tool to help manage anxiety, stress, trauma and depression.

Children are coming into schools with a lot of different baggage and Soul Garden Recovery Center board member Dee Ann Ryan thinks tapping should be in schools. Ryan was excited to talk to Yates this week about him possibly getting involved with groups here.

In the video the campers watched, Yates said tapping helps people to come to grips with their feelings and can help someone feel better.

He'd tap his chin, under his arm or top of his head and say phrases such as "I am great. I am so smart" or words such as "peace, love and helpfulness."

Some of the campers said they have feelings of fear, anger, being embarrassed and feeling insecure.

Ryan said they can feel all those things living with a person with the disease of addiction or in other situations such as if they feel bullied or nervous about something at school.

In addition to the tapping technique to help them feel better, the campers also played feelings bingo with words like happy, mad, confused and frustrated.

They also watched a puppet show about drugs and alcohol by ventriloquist Albert King, and talked about a new Sesame Street character whose mother is battling addiction that Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the show Sesame Street, revealed last week in a series of videos.

The materials are part of an initiative called Sesame Street in Communities that offers online-only resources to caregivers trying to explain difficult issues to children.

The campers started the camp day talking about The Seven Cs -- I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it. But I can help take care of myself by communicating feelings, making good choices and celebrating myself.

October's two-day camp was Soul Garden's second one. The first was in August and future ones could be about every other month, Ryan said.

The camp uses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services program curriculum for Supportive Education for Children of Addicted Parents, which lists the following core philosophies as central to any successful and healthy intervention program:

--Children deserve the right to their own recovery and healing.

--Children deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, value and worth.

--Children deserve to be listened to and heard.

--Children deserve the opportunity to be kids.

Camp messages:

--You're not alone; there are lots of kids living in families like yours; one out of every four children.

--It is not your fault.

--You deserve help and there is help for you.

--Addiction is a disease.

--It is OK to share your feelings with safe people.

--It is important to appropriately express your feelings, including anger, and you can learn how to do that.

--Everyone in the family gets hurt by addiction. A demonstration of this in camp was a multi-seat bicycle. When the driver was affected by substance abuse, anything the driver did, such as braked or turned sharply, affected everyone.

--Recovery can take a long time: stopping the drinking or drug use is just the beginning.

Ryan said what's unique too about this new camp is that teens are leaders with it, helping the younger ones. She thinks the children learn more from their peers.

One of those leaders is 13-year-old Anabell Thompson of Danville.

Thompson was 10 years old when she lost her father, then age 12 when she lost her mother, both to drug overdoses.

Thompson said it's easier to talk about her situation as the years pass, and she wants to help others.

"My family struggled with drug addiction in the past," she said adding that she wants others to know they aren't alone in going through those family struggles.

She said what's helped her most is therapy and talking about it.

Some other coping skills the campers talked about were belly breathing, laughing and taking walks outside.

Ryan said the camp came about to address children, who are often the most hurt by drugs and alcohol addiction in families.

Addiction affects all demographics, regardless of income, education, race, gender or neighborhood. It is now estimated that 1 out of 3 children in America are affected in some way due to the opioid crisis.

The disease drives a wedge between loved ones and prevents children from the closeness and care they need.

The camp helps children cope positively with their past, care for themselves and stay safe. To escape the world of isolation that has enveloped them, they must grieve, be angry, cry and be comforted.

Each camp is free and limited to 15 children.

To register, call Dee Ann Ryan at (217) 474-3863.

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(c)2019 the Commercial-News (Danville, Ill.)

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