THE CREATIVE MINDS PROJECT
The Creative Minds Project (CMP) delivers social-emotional art, drama, dance/movement, expressive poetry, music and drumming groups to transitional aged youth and adults living homeless. This sustainable program is served by volunteers who are creative arts therapists or therapists with experience integrating the arts, graduate students in the creative arts therapies/clinical psychology, and UCLA students.
For more information and to apply, please email: apply2cmp@gmail.com
CMP creative arts therapy/graduate student interns receive earn clinical hours, which they may apply towards their license requirements. Community service under the mentorship of the creative arts therapists/interns offers UCLA undergraduate volunteers immediate opportunities to learn how to use creative arts as a tool for both clinical practice and self care. Objectives include: 1) creating rapport and connection, 2) evoking positive emotions and bolstering resilience, 3) empowering participants in managing stress, pain and the environment, 4) facilitating verbal and nonverbal communication, 5) strengthening sense of self as a creative being, and 6) managing traumatic responses.
UCLArts and Healing partnered in the development of the Creative Minds Project and supports it continuously. The Donald A. Strauss Foundation provided generous funding for the program’s launch. The UCLA undergraduate Student Association and community donors also provide much appreciated support. Recently, the CMP partnered with poet, India Radfar, on her project funded by the AIR grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
The CMP is currently serving PATH West LA and Safe Place for Youth.
Safe Place for Youth (SPY)
SPY serves TAY living homeless. SPY's mission is to inspire, nurture, and empower the resilient human spirit of homeless youth by providing immediate and lasting solutions, one young person at a time. Basic human needs are addressed through a “safe haven” atmosphere of hope and concern. SPY provides three core areas of service provision: Street Outreach, Drop-in Center, and Case Management.
People Assisting the Homeless - West LA (PATH WLA)
PATH WLA serves veterans chronically living homeless. PATH provides the support that homeless individuals and families need in order to successfully transition from living on the street to thriving in homes of their own. High-quality supportive services are critical to ensuring that the people we serve are able to not only move into permanent homes, but stay in permanent homes long-term. The services are available to anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Soon we plan to re-initiate services with OPCC, at their Access Center.
Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC)
Previously, CMP served the OPCC Night Light Youth Outreach Program for transitional aged youth (TAY) ages 18 - 24 who may be runaways and are living homeless in the Santa Monica area. Soon CMP plans to expand service to OPCC Access Center adults chronically living homeless.
Keep up to date with our relocation and expansion plan here.
The Creative Minds Project is grateful to Step Up on Second and Daniel’s Place for enabling CMP volunteers and interns to pilot a program that is sustainable and exportable to other places - that will ultimately serve many more people.
From May 2012 – August 2014, the CMP served Step Up on Second (SUOS) and Daniel’s Place (DP) mental health agencies. Click here to view a UCLA Daily Bruin article that offer details on the experience of participants at Step Up on Second.
Step Up on Second (SUOS)
SUOS serves individuals between ages 18 – 59 with severe and persistent mental illness, including schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and major depression. Over 40 percent of Step Up on Second members live without a permanent home (Step Up on Second, 2010, grant document). All members are living below the poverty level, some with no source of support at all, and some may have limited support through family or part-time jobs. The average member age is 50; average number of years homeless is eight; 30% or more have experienced homelessness for over 10 years; 78% are male; 32% are female; 66% are White; 21% are African American; 12% are Hispanic; up to 60% are veterans.
Daniel's Place (DP)
DP serves TAY between the ages of 16-28 who are experiencing their first episodes of mental illness and/or homelessness. Since 1998, the population of DP members has historically been split 75% male and 25% female and ethnicities served are primarily African American, Latino and Caucasian. Due to the lack of mental health services for TAY in Los Angeles, members are drawn from all over the city. Many DP members are homeless at any given time and many more are at high risk for homelessness due to unstable living conditions, strained family relationships, and lack of ability to earn a livable income.