Drama Group for High Risk Youth and young Adults
A Proposal for the PPO Foundation
(January 2022)
The Organisation
Founded in 1999, Israeli NGO Hut HaMeshulash, established in Jerusalem but serving national needs, provides practical, emotional, spiritual and vocational assistance for high-risk teens and young adults (ages 14-25). Included are high-school dropouts; the homeless; those addicted to drugs and alcohol; young people who have turned to crime and prostitution to support themselves; victims of physical/sexual abuse; and others.
Recognizing the innate good in each person, our team of trained social workers and other professionals facilitates a number of well-regarded intervention, rehabilitation, and enrichment initiatives that redirect and empower disenfranchised young people as capable, independent individuals, thus altering the downward trajectory of their lives.
Each year more than 1000 teens and young adults take part in these programs, many noted for focusing on the psycho-social needs of those over 18 who have aged-out of other initiatives and the increasing number of young people leaving Ultra-Orthodox communities and find themselves ill-equipped to deal with general society. Treatment and outreach may last from months to years, depending on the young person’s particular background and needs. In the majority of cases, we witness personal growth and a substantial shift in the individual’s mindset and ability to participate in Israeli society.
Hut HaMeshulash closely collaborates with Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Jerusalem municipal authorities to carry out our main projects which include a multi-use drop-in center; a range of vocational skill-building initiatives; and both long-term and transitional residential homes for young men and women. Collectively these interventions encourage troubled young people to believe in their own self-worth; acquire skills for success; make healthy relationship choices; and explore new opportunities for the future.
The Project
Hut HaMeshulash, expert at identifying new ways to reach the sometimes hidden worlds of the young people in our care. This year, and for the first time we are starting a new, exciting, and important project: in collaboration with the "Nissan Nativ" Acting Studio in Jerusalem (a school of acting that has been involved for over 50 years in training the next generation of Israeli culture), we are setting up a drama group for at-risk teenagers and young adults. The purpose of the project is to open the world of theater and acting to youngsters who come to our Drop – in Center and young adults from the hostels.
Approach
At the meetings, the participants are taught and shown how, through working with drama, they can expand how they view important experiences in their lives, using the dramatic space, the power of the stage, and the power of the group (as a unified entity, and as individuals). The project will have an integrative format that will combine theoretical learning with personal and group experience.
Purpose of the Course
Exposure to the world of theater acquiring tools and knowledge about the theater learning basic acting techniques learning how to express oneself create through the world of theater and acting
Putting on a play at the end of the year.
Work Model
In the first stage, the project will consist of weekly sessions guided by professional teachers from Nissan Nativ. The project will give participants a new way of coping better with a range of situations in their lives and will make self-discovery possible.
Our goal is to put on a play at the end of the year, with the group's participants taking responsibility for various aspects of the production: directing, producing, acting, sound, and so on.
The PPO Foundation accepted the request.
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