Growing our Community at St. Stephen’s Youth Programs
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By Tyler Cavanagh, Development Associate
“A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” – Liberty Hyde Bailey
This quote speaks to our truth at St. Stephen’s Youth Programs where our youth, families, and staff thrive because of the effort that is expended by individuals in our programs each and every day. Dani Fearon, SSYP’s Director of Social and Emotional Support (SES) and her team of interns, plan and implement weekly rotations called B-YOU with young people in LEARN, YLC, as well as with our teen organizing team. The B-YOU program focuses on building social and emotional skills through creative processes from drawing and painting to music, movement, drama and more. In addition to pursuing advanced degrees in expressive therapies, social work, and mental health, our budding SES team members provide engaging activities that mask therapeutic learning with fun, much like a parent adding pureed carrots into their child’s mac and cheese to get more veggies in!
The B-YOU rotations include activities in a variety of modalities, based on the expertise of the staff and the space available. One of the more accessible modalities is visual art-based projects, which allow the students to work both independently and collaboratively. Each week, two pieces of art that are created during these SES rotations are selected to be displayed outside of our site on Shawmut Ave. These pieces are selected based on the effort and commitment to the intent of the activity, praising the process, not the final product, and providing our youth with a sense of accomplishment and pride, when they see their art on display for the world.
During a recent staff meeting, Dani invited our staff to step out of our comfort zones and do a short art therapy activity. She asked us to create a representation of ourselves as a flower on the front of an envelope. We were encouraged to explore a variety of art materials, and Dani quickly redirected comments like “I’m not an artist” and “I can’t draw or paint” that she knew were coming. With partners, we shared things such as why we chose where the flower grows, what it smells like, if it was toxic, or if it was colorful. We then helped each other to create care instructions on the back of the seed packet we had created.
What may seem like a quirky art project for an elementary school art program holds a much deeper meaning. Throughout the meeting staff strengthened relationships, shared some laughs, and opened themselves up to each other, blooming like the flowers we had just created. At the end of the meeting, there was a general air of disappointment that we didn’t have more time to just flex our creativity. In our society, art is so often seen as something that we should only be doing if we are the best at it, but Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapies teach us the importance of the lessons we can learn by allowing ourselves to express ourselves.
Our approach to working with young people is centered around holistic development and growth. With systemic barriers, traumatic experiences, and lack of support in other areas of their lives, our students are able to feel safe and valued at our program, largely in part because of the SES team, and the work they do. It may seem like just a fun project when you look at the final product, but in creating art at SSYP, we are creating a stronger and healthier community, and that is more valuable than any piece of art.
Tyler holds a bachelor's degree in music with a concentration in vocal performance from Westfield State University. With over 15 years of experience in youth work, including licensed camps and childcare, teen leadership programming, mentoring, and arts education, Tyler is excited to bring his experience to the development side of the table. He has a passion for building community and creating opportunities to celebrate diversity and inclusion in all ages but especially in young people. Tyler currently lives on the South Shore where he is an active performer in community theatre, choirs, and recitals.