Substance Abuse

Sunflower Landing Bounce-Back Photography Project
Dreyfus Health Foundation
Posted: 09-25-2008

Description
This project was implemented by the staff of a local non-profit long-term residential treatment center for adolescents with substance abuse and related emotional and behavioral problems. Although the project began as a year-long initiative, it was so successful that it has continued and grown since its inception in 2005. There have also been several exciting expansions in the project. For example, the photography taken by the children was compiled into a book entitled “You Have a Right to Be Here,” which features photography and poetry from the children in the program. The pictures have also been displayed in exhibits at local Blues festivals, the local library, and Madidi Restaurant in Clarksdale. Sales of the children’s photographs at these exhibits have helped partially fund the project.

The project began with a small grant from Dreyfus Health Foundation to purchase cameras for the children’s use, and grew as others in the community and other states found out about it. It wasn’t long before generous donations of cameras began to flow in. As photography went to the more economical digital format, so did Sunflower Landing’s Bounce-Back Photography Project. After Dreyfus provided seed money to purchase a few digital cameras, the State Auditor’s Office in Florida donated 17 used computers, and the local school district donated printers to process the digital photography.

An article on the project was recently published in a national professional journal in the field of addiction, Addiction Professional, and as a result other treatment centers in other areas of the U.S. have expressed interest in replicating the program.

Below are some samples of photos taken by the children at Sunflower Landing. Please click on the links on the right side of the page to see other pictures and essays written by children in this program.

Objectives
The project uses photography as a creative vehicle to convey therapeutic concepts of substance-abuse treatment, self-esteem building, and to instill healthy coping skills as an alternative to substance use. Adolescents respond much better to creative vehicles such as this than to traditional adult treatment approaches.

Dates
Beginning: 2005
Ending:

How to Volunteer
Digital cameras and printing supplies are direly needed. Donations are welcome and are tax deductible.

Partners
Dreyfus Health Foundation; Sunflower Landing’s parent agency, Region One Mental Health in Clarksdale, Mississippi through funding received from the Mississippi State Department of Mental Health.