“Our participants sometimes become best friends, and interactions you would not expect take place on a daily basis.”

– Great Prospects CEO Michelle Jericevich

Great inventions often come about because a creative person sees a need and finds a solution that improves the lives of many others. Our Therapeutic Day Program (TDP) had a similar start. Designed by a mother to meet some of her daughter’s special needs after high school, it not only achieved that goal but has also helped dozens of other young adults with developmental disabilities in the Atlanta area.

The transition from relatively carefree adolescence to stepping into the next phase of their lives is challenging, and especially so for young adults with special needs. As they age out of the school system, they need:

Suitable replacements for the educational and therapeutic programs that schools provided
Ways to avoid loneliness, isolation, and regression
Activities offering a way to gain communication and social skills and make friends within the disability community
Ways to connect with and contribute to the wider community
Skills and encouragement to combat discrimination from people with “ableist” attitudes who vastly underestimate what they can achieve
Ways to advocate for themselves: “Nothing about us without us”
Therapeutic activities to support their health and fitness
Art, music, and other creative experiences to feed their souls

Creating a Program to Address Unmet Needs

Michelle Jericevich, now Great Prospects’ CEO, understood these challenges very well. In 2010, she was looking for programs and activities to help her daughter Indya, a young woman with disabilities who had transitioned out of high school. Like other young adults in this situation, she needed to retain the skills she had learned, master new ones, and reach her fullest potential in the company of friends.

Michelle explains that when Indya was in school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, she knew her daughter was in a safe place, learning, socializing, and receiving therapy. But once Indya reached adulthood, there was nowhere to turn to help her continue her progress toward achieving her full potential in life. Resources tailored to the needs of active young developmentally disabled adults simply weren’t available in the Atlanta area at the time. The choices were limited to adult day care or vocational rehab.

So Michelle met with the original founders of Great Prospects, who had opened the center in 2009 with a 1-day-a-week program to prepare individuals for vocational rehab. Michelle proposed a unique, multifaceted series of activities and outings to offer 5 days a week.

From life skills and community involvement to art, music, and physical fitness, what Michelle envisioned had all the ingredients Indya and her peers needed to continue on their path to meaningful lives graced by achievement and personal fulfillment. But the founders went in a different direction, so Michelle, with help from Indya, stepped in to grow and strengthen Great Prospects, and she continues to serve as its leader. The robust programming she sought to fill unmet needs eventually became Great Prospects’ exclusive Therapeutic Day Program.

Celebrating 15 Years as an Elite, Private, Nonprofit Program

The Therapeutic Day Program, now in its 15th year, serves the changing needs of young adults ranging in age from 21 to 40 who meet our eligibility criteria. Unlike other programs, we are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday so that participants’ parents and guardians know that their son or daughter are in a safe, enriching environment while they’re at work or tending to other responsibilities. We focus on:

Life and social skills training
Peer support
Community service
Health and fitness
Music, speech, and art therapies, yoga, and martial arts
Having fun with friends in the present

Our licensed therapists and other qualified staff meet with small groups of participants to provide instruction in a 1:7 ratio as they explore adaptive art, communication, music, fitness, and more. Working with these professionals who get to know them well, the young adults learn to be independent, expressing their authentic personalities while making good choices for the future.

Therapeutic Programs to Serve Various Needs

Our TPD serves a diverse population of young adults with special needs. It currently has over a dozen participants, and we have opened up places for a few more. Many of the young adults in the program are high-functioning individuals with Autism, and several have Down Syndrome. Other conditions participants have include Epilepsy, Williams Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, developmental delay, Fragile X Syndrome, Hypotonia, Apraxia, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), depression, and anxiety.

Their personalities run the gamut from reserved and empathetic to outgoing and a little bossy. They may be quietly witty or delight in playing pranks. Like other young adults, they have diverse interests: cAnd they face personal challenges with issues like communication, balance, motivation, regulating emotions, physical limitations, distractions, fear of abandonment, and a need for reassurance.

It may seem nearly impossible to come up with a plan that can benefit such a wide variety of young people, but Great Prospects excels in designing programs that engage their minds, bodies, and creativity. Therapeutic Day Program Director Tabitha Todle is a passionate advocate of inclusion for young adults with special needs who recognizes their special abilities as well. She has volunteered with the Special Olympics and Best Buddies International and worked as a personal support caregiver for families with individuals who have disabilities.

Promoting Health, Fitness, Creativity, and Communication

For health and fitness, the TDP offers Adaptive Yoga, Adaptive Martial Arts, and Adaptive Fitness classes taught by certified instructors. The focus is on cardio, strength training, and flexibility.

Such workouts are good for all participants, and Special Strong notes that they also offer special benefits for individuals with autism, ADD, and Down Syndrome:

For those with autism, exercise improves power, balance, and motor coordination, lowers tension and anxiety, and helps them retain information and maintain an appropriate attention span.
For those with ADD, “exercising is a recommended medication” that increases motivation for cognitive activities.
Down Syndrome can decrease bodily strength and muscle tone and create problems with posture and balance. Special Strong advises that for these individuals, “exercise not only enhances their physical health, but it also contributes to improved coordination, self-esteem, and overall well-being.”

On the therapeutic side, participants engage in Music Therapy, Art Therapy, and Speech Therapy led by certified and licensed therapists.

Music Therapy can involve playing an instrument, singing, songwriting, guided movement to music, analyzing lyrics, or simply listening. David Victor, formerly of the multi-platinum rock band Boston, believes in the healing power of music so much that he runs the live music charity Healing & Harmony. He believes that music can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic physical pain and release endorphins that may aid in the healing process. He notes that in therapy sessions, music “helps create an atmosphere and an emotion conducive to stress relief and healing emotional wounds.”

Any visual medium can be featured in Art Therapy. Participants might paint with brushes or their fingers, sketch, doodle, make collages, sculpt or carve decorative objects, or view the world in a new way through photography.

Covey, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit and United Way partner, creates opportunities for individuals with disabilities and their families. Their team says Art Therapy can improve mental health by boosting dopamine and serotonin, allowing participants to explore emotions and express feelings and ideas in new ways, help reduce chronic pain, and build self-esteem and confidence.

Speech Therapy is of great importance to young adults with disabilities who are often misunderstood in various ways. Difficulty in communicating makes it hard to interact with others, and this leads to frustration and anxiety.

The Independent Living Association notes that speech therapy can help with:

Conceptual skills like receptive and expressive language, reading, and writing
Interpersonal skills
Problem-solving
Following directions
Building routines
Using phones and computers
Navigating social media platforms

Raymond Anderson, RN, the association’s nursing coordinator, says speech therapy is crucial because it “helps give individuals a possible way to express themselves to let their needs be known.”

Expanding Horizons and Unexpected Delights

Often, TDP participants are out in the community, practicing their social skills as they visit restaurants, stores, and parks. They also contribute to the community, volunteering their time to efforts including making treat packs for the dogs at LifeLine Animal Project, cleaning up Dunwoody Nature Center, and dropping off cans for recycling at Sandy Spring Fire Station #1 which benefits their burn program.

Participants also enjoy weekly activities that are just for fun, along with occasional special outings. These trips broaden their horizons with experiences such as:

Lunching at restaurants
Bowling
Movies and mini golf at Aurora Cineplex
Ballet performances
Puppetry arts
Enjoying animals at places like Zoo Atlanta, the GA Aquarium, and Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari
And lots more

One of the most beautiful things about the Therapeutic Day Program is the unexpected delights it can bring when participants interact. Michelle tells about some of them:

“One of our nonverbal participants is highly empathetic, can anticipate when another participant is in need of support, and will help remediate the situation before it escalates.
“Another participant has gained confidence in her leadership abilities and helps staff ensure that the other participants are engaged.
“Two participants with very different backgrounds but get along well, to the point that one can help the other manage his emotions. She will ask him to take deep breaths when he starts to get upset.
“One of the quieter participants likes to play practical jokes on his friends. When he sees the opportunity, he will say “Boo!” to startle them.
”Two participants have formed an unlikely friendship, as one is verbal and the other has limited verbal abilities. However, they communicate and make each other laugh daily.”

Michelle, Tabitha, and the rest of the Great Prospects team have a deep understanding of the needs of young adults with disabilities who are making the crucial transition to full adulthood. To review the eligibility requirements and find out more about how our Therapeutic Day Program can benefit your loved one, give us a call at (770) 314-4243.

The Therapeutic Day Program: Atlanta’s Premier Private Nonprofit Program for Young Adults With Disabilities