Why I'm Participating in the Big House 5K: Deb Gordon-Gurfinkel
3/7/2019 10:40:00 AM | Features, Community Engagement, Big House 5K
The 2019 Big House 5K: Trail to the Victors presented by Toyota on Sunday, April 7, will benefit six local, non-profit organizations selected based on the support they provide to our Washtenaw County community in key areas like housing, healthcare, the arts, youth programming and social services. In the weeks leading up to the race, MGoBlue.com will share stories from people inspired to participate this year because of one of the beneficiaries.
By Deb Gordon-Gurfinkel
My name is Deb Gordon-Gurfinkel and I'm walking in the Big House 5K Presented by Toyota in support of Telling It, a trauma-informed community-based program for school-age youth.
I founded and piloted Telling it in Ann Arbor in 2002 after moving from the San Francisco Bay Area. There, I volunteered with children that, along with their families, were experiencing homelessness. Once settled in Ann Arbor, I was made aware of the mental health and educational struggles of children that had experienced homelessness through the Ypsilanti shelter organization SOS Community Services. Telling It now partners with four other youth-focused organizations in Washtenaw County.
I used my training as a Drama In Education specialist from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, where I grew up, in the development of Telling It. It became clear that we needed to be trauma-informed because the children and teens in the program were sharing such deeply personal stories. Telling It offers the expressive arts such as the visual arts, poetry, role-play, music and hip-hop, blended with social work and education, as platforms for personal expression without judgment or censorship.
By collaborating with children and teens to create an environment of trust and intimacy, the Telling It team, led by a social worker and a site leader, step in and find shelter for a homeless teen that has no family to support him, and then identify and support children and teens that have shared that they want to harm themselves or that others are harming them. They use their trauma-informed training to decode behavior and look for ways to support children and teens in building resiliency beyond what their short years have already forced upon them.
I am amazed at the ability of some of our children and teens as they attend school and hold down jobs, even become loving and engaged parents despite the realities of food and home insecurity, abuse, violence in their schools and communities. Being forced into adult situations before their bodies and brains are ready has the potential for long-term mental health and physical problems.
In our community, there are many children and teens that have experienced trauma and are looking to heal. I'm walking for all of the children and teens that have shared with us that their experience with Telling It has led them to have courage in the face of adversity and overwhelming odds; that they now believe in their ability to commit to school and to be in control of their impulses. I am honored to represent them and Telling It by walking in the Big House 5K.
About Telling It
Telling It is a trauma informed, resiliency-building program that supports the healing and learning needs of school-age youth. This free after-school program is based on best practices from social work and education that are filtered through the expressive arts. Telling It is able to achieve its mission by employing a trained team that includes facilitators, social workers, U-M interns, volunteers and artists that work with youth on a weekly basis. Celebrating its 16th year in Washtenaw Co. Telling It serves on average 60-80 youth each year. These are youngsters who are coping with various degrees of trauma - home and food insecurity, bullying, a high level of violence or living in poverty. Evaluation results demonstrate that youth feel valued and respected in the weekly program sessions. They report that Telling It provides a safe space where they share their life experiences and their hurts. Telling It supports youth on their path to becoming healthy and empowered young adults. For more information, visit lsa.umich.edu/tellingit.
