HAWAIIAN ARTS
Our Hawaiian Arts Program was designed to awaken and strengthen mentees’ connection to Hawaiian culture. Through Hawaiian language, lāʻau lapaʻau, and the art of hula, mentees gain insight to Hawaiian history, botany, geography of the surrounding lands, protocols, respect for themselves & others, accountability and a greater understanding of their home, regardless of their ancestral lineage.
ART THERAPY
Our Art Therapy Program is a key program in releasing trauma and encouraging emotional healing. Using the art-making
process and with support from our art therapists, foster children and youth learn how to explore feelings, increase self-awareness
and cope with life’s challenges. Our youth art therapy groups support resilience and positive connections by utilizing
developmentally appropriate interventions related to emotional needs and goals.
GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
Our Individual & Group Therapy Program addresses many of the behavioral outcomes present in children and youth experiencing homelessness and the foster care system. Individual and group therapy is effective at getting to the root cause of problem behaviors rather than just treating symptoms. Group members can receive support from one another and provide support to others, developing a broader support system. Additionally, group therapy also provides group identification, allowing individuals to identify with other people who have similar problems. This, in turn, helps children and youth be more open to discussing their own issues and are often more forthcoming in these settings.
LIFE SKILLS
Our Life Skills Program provides foster children and youth with a wide variety of life skills not taught in the public school system. The program offers foster children and youth a weekly rotating curriculum that focuses on a variety of topics, including: household and automotive; time management; money management; social emotional learning; communication skills; workforce development
and employment; self-care, medical, health & well-being; problem solving; sustainable gardening; and more. We provide foster children and youth personalized and individual growth plans, ensuring that our youth are provided the specific support needed to enhance their quality of life now and into the future.
This program helps foster children and youth understand the origins and impacts of trauma, and learn skills to heal from this trauma.
This program is led by licensed professionals, including psychologists and counselors, who deploy a variety of tools.
ABUSE PREVENTION & DIVERSITY TRAINING
Our Abuse Prevention & Diversity Training Program helps foster children and youth understand the origins and impacts of trauma,
and learn skills to heal from this trauma. With high percentages of abuse in Hawaiʻi, it is our goal to break the patterns of trauma,
help youth understand how they are being affected by abuse, and work to retrain their mind and body to release trauma.
Weekly topics include: Domestic Violence, LGBTQ Sensitivity Training, Sexual Abuse, Suicide Prevention, Substance Abuse,
Anger Management, Human Rights, Respect in Relationships, Respect of Differences, Sex Trafficking Awareness, & Healing from
Within: Body, Mind & Spirit. This program is led by licensed professionals, including psychologists and counselors,
who deploy a variety of tools and have a deep investment in our youth.
Change a life today
We work with primarily with foster and at-promise youth on Hawai’i Island, mostly North & South Kona, from ages 8 and up who are experiencing trauma within the home. Often these at-promise youth are those within the foster care system and/or aging out of the system. Too often, however, youth that pass through the foster care system fail to find permanent homes, transitioning from one living situation to another and often finding themselves experiencing chronic homelessness. As there are few programs that provide the array of services and programming, with a large population of Native Hawaiian foster youth and those aging out of the foster care system, our programs are critical to West Hawaiʻi and Hawaiʻi Island at large.
We work daily with children placed in foster care who have been removed from their homes and separated from their families. As a result, unique needs particular to this experience include difficulties feeling safe and trusting others. Disruptive family conditions, such as abuse or financial issues, are some of the reasons that young people leave or are forced out of their homes. Our proposed program ensures that our most undervalued children and youth, those experiencing foster care in West Hawaiʻi, are provided an opportunity to live successful, thriving lives through life enhancing programs that we offer at Humanity Hale.