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Researchers are always looking for new ways to help addicts overcome their addictions in rehabilitation facilities, and a new one, called RADE, or Rehabilitation through Art, Drama, and Education, is seeing if using the arts will help addicts find the strength to succeed.
This facility has been open for six years and during that time, many lives have been transformed — including those whose families had given up on.
Part of the therapy is about changing the label that has been placed on you by society. If you’re only ever seen as a drug addict, as if you can never be anything else, then that’s all you’ll ever be. By changing the label you place on yourself, you’re able to change how those around you view you.
Those in the facility spend their time in activities that include creative writing, art, drama, and film making in addition to working with therapists in traditional counseling sessions.
One great example is Jenna, who before starting the RADE program had been addicted to heroin. Through the program, she learned that she loves acting and is even in a course at the Gaiety School of Acting in addition to the acting she does at RADE. She’s learning that through art, she’s able to express emotions that she used to bottle up inside. It’s crucial to her recovery, she believes.
It’s not surprising that they’re finding success through the arts. Arts have long been used for therapy and it’s been found that the arts help children gain creativity and help kids in rough neighborhoods find a reason to avoid gangs and do well in school.
