NVW staff

Play Power: TBH Staff Member Builds Confidence in his Students

February 12, 2017

by Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Chair

“I give them a safe place to rough house and learn how to use their bodies” states Ryan Daly—the play therapy leader at Nonviolence Works. For the past three years, Daly has been leading the Familia Y Mundo therapeutic after-school program participants in activities designed to get them moving and learn body awareness.

Ryan Daly

Daly and the FYM staff see dramatic differences in the students that participate. As he enters the classroom he notices youth who are “shut down”—even with their heads down and not talking. After a period in the play therapy activities—they are vibrant and smiling with happiness. Daly knows that this contrast is partly due to the advantage he has of seeing them after a long day in the classroom—often sedentary—and the chance to play and move is rewarding. [Read more…] about Play Power: TBH Staff Member Builds Confidence in his Students

Nonviolence Works Welcomes New Family Therapist

February 2, 2017

By Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Chair

“I wanted to have a profession in which I gave back to others,” commented Marcella Skogen, the new family therapist at NVW. After she was helped by a counselor during her divorce process, she was motivated to enter the profession herself and completed a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver.

Marcella Kagan

Like many transplants, Skogen has been visiting Taos for twenty-five years with a goal of some day being able to move here. She and her husband arrived last July and she is now working part time at both Golden Willow Retreat and NVW. She has assumed the role of lead therapist in the Familia y Mundo therapeutic after-school program where she leads counseling groups and does individual counseling. [Read more…] about Nonviolence Works Welcomes New Family Therapist

Designing Programs to Fit Taos Needs

January 5, 2017

Mary Gray McPhail By Mary McPhail Gray
NVW Chair

Taos is a unique complex community where human strengths and human needs exist at the same time as dramatic challenges to the behavioral health system. Whether looking at poverty, hunger, violence or despair in many forms, Taoseños across their life span need compassionate culturally informed services that support paths to greater life success. Many presenting challenges are generational patterns and system failures, yet change has to start with individuals reaching out to those in need. [Read more…] about Designing Programs to Fit Taos Needs