NEWS

Music therapy helps troubled teens; a new focus on healing trauma at the juvenile center

Alissa Zhu
DZHU@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Four teen boys sat in a half circle around two women and a guitar.

One of the boys started tapping his orange foam sandal against the floor in time to the beat. Another leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

A woman performed an acoustic rendition of an early 2000s rock song. She sang, "It's been a while since I could hold my head up high / And it's been a while since I first saw you."

The kids were in juvenile detention and participating in a new music therapy program.

Youths end up in detention for a variety of crimes, including drug problems, auto theft or assault. They're often considered community safety or flight risks.

Starting on Aug. 1, the Greene County Juvenile Justice Center and Drury University partnered up to offer troubled kids weekly music therapy sessions.

An individual plays a bass guitar

Another group from the Greene County Youth Academy, a day treatment program for young offenders, meets separately with a music therapist on the university's campus.

The kids in both groups — mostly boys around the ages of 14, 15 or 16 — enjoy going to music therapy, according to Chief Juvenile Officer Bill Prince.

"It's hard to say if we're seeing quantifiable behavioral changes," Prince said. "If you got something that the kids are looking forward to and want to participate, I just can't help to think that we're going to see some good fruit there in the long run."

Prince said implementing the music therapy program is one step in adopting a healing focus on the trauma that burdens kids who go through the juvenile justice system.

"It is really a massive undertaking," Prince said. "It involves reshaping physical structures and reshaping hearts and minds."

Prince said the vast majority of kids that he sees "have at one point been victims of trauma in some form or fashion."

"We want to create an environment and programming that is sensitive to that and treats that," Prince said.

At a session at the detention center, Drury music therapy student Cassie Fox sang while playing the guitar: "And everything I can't remember/ As messed up as it all may seem / The consequences that I've rendered / I've stretched myself beyond my means."

Fox led a conversation, gently prompting each teen to think about how the song related to his own experiences.

An older boy told the group: "I don't remember getting this tattoo. I don't remember a lot of things. I couldn't remember because I was too messed up or on a different level .... Being locked up isn't really a consequence. I lied to my mom again. I lied to my family again. Being locked up in juvie is nothing compared to stuff you have to deal with on the outside."

After the session ended, the boy told the News-Leader, "I'm tired of ending back up here. I don't want to go to prison (as an adult)."

He said listening and playing music makes him feel better. It's easy to open up about his feelings to a group of strangers, he said, who don't have preconceived notions about him.

"I wish I could do it more outside of here. It's hard to do it at home, where you have a relationship set up and you don't have a chance to change," he said.

He had heard the song Fox played before, but that was the first time he paid attention to its message.

"Maybe I'll try to listen to music, instead of the noise it makes," he said. "When you listened to the words, it meant something pretty cool."

Fox, 32, is in her second year of studying music therapy at Drury University and hopes to help teens with mental health needs after she graduates.

"I worked in a teen substance abuse rehabilitation program for a couple of years," Fox told the News-Leader. "I find teens very inspiring. It's a time in our development where we are kind of finding ourselves and you're working toward your individuality and independence. They often offer a lot of insight into the world and life. It can be challenging working with them for a lot of the same reasons."

Sometimes Fox and music therapist Morgan Robertson perform for the kids in detention, focusing on lyric analysis. Other times they bring instruments and encourage the kids to play and to express themselves.

Robertson is with the Center for Music Therapy and Wellness at Drury University. She leads and supervises the sessions for kids in the juvenile justice system.

"We use music as a springboard for how to work through problems they're having," Robertson said. "We work on improving communication skills, self-esteem and working with authority. We're doing sessions discussing trust and empathy (and) self-worth so hopefully when you have a stronger awareness of yourself, you can make better choices in the future."

"I'm not treating the 'why.' I'm treating the tomorrow," said Robertson, who explained the sessions don't dwell on the crimes the kids have been charged with.

Morgan Robertson points to what beat to play on during a music therapy class at Drury University with students from the Greene County Juvenile Center on Tuesday, September 20, 2016.

"They're just kids that have made some bad choices," Robertson said. "I don't know what their home lives are like. I don't know what they're like at school. I just try to treat them like they're intelligent young people who are interested in music. I've found that to be pretty darn successful."

Robertson said, with the teens, she plays a lot of old school hip-hop and rap.

"They make fun of me because these songs are so old," Robertson said with a laugh. "I'm not even sure most of them were born when they came out."

For a recent session with the teens from the youth academy, Robertson drew inspiration from the film "Straight Outta Compton," which follows the rap careers of several famous musicians, including Dr. Dre.

The youth academy group meets with Robertson on Drury's campus, which means the sessions can incorporate more instruments and flexibility than the ones held at the detention center.

Robertson took Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's 1992 hit "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang" and broke the rhythm and melody down into over half a dozen different instrumental components.

Robertson said the exercise teaches kids how to listen to one another and work together. The kids sometimes add their own flair to Robertson's sessions, like engaging in freestyle rap duos.

Nine boys and one girl, each seated at instruments ranging from drum kits to marimbas, began putting together a song under Robertson's direction.

Morgan Robertson helps a student from the Greene County Juvenile Center play the right notes during a music therapy class at Drury University on Tuesday, September 20, 2016.

Prince, the chief juvenile officer, said each music therapy session costs the county $75, which comes out of a fund budgeted toward juvenile mental health.

Prince said there has been a change in the way that juvenile justice systems look at kids who have committed crimes.

"We shift that inquiry a little bit to asking not, "Why did you do that?" to "What has happened to you to cause you to do that?'" Prince said.

Prince emphasized that they still want kids to take accountability for their actions: "That doesn't necessarily mean punish them. You can hold kids accountable by giving them new coping skills, empathy skills so they don't engage in this behavior again."

Prince said shifting the focus toward addressing trauma is a multi-step process that will take years.

The juvenile center has repainted some stark white walls with calming colors, Prince said. Staff have been trained to be more aware of and sensitive to traumatized kids.

The center is looking at working with Missouri State University's art department to incorporate art projects in the building.

Prince said he will be exploring the possibility of starting an art therapy program as well as bringing in service dogs to help calm the youths.

"It's a paradigm shift. It makes so much sense. I don't know why we haven't been doing this for years," Prince said.

"What we have found is if you don't identify and address that underlying trauma, more likely than not, the juvenile is going to go out and engage in that same behavior again," Prince said. "If we can prevent youthful offenders from becoming adult offenders we've not only done a favor for the family but the community as well."

Editor's Note: The News-Leader was granted access to music therapy sessions by the Greene County Juvenile Justice Center on the condition that no identifying information about the youths is published.