A Local Band Shaped By the Pandemic and Mental Health

Many people are fa­miliar with Jawonio and the services they offer to individuals with a disability, but few know about the Jawonio PROS program.

Jawonio PROS is a com­prehensive, recovery-ori­ented program for adults who have a mental health condition. They assist cli­ents in achieving self-iden­tified recovery goals and help them in navigating the symptoms that they experience through group and individual psycho­therapy, art, music, dis­cussion, psychoeducation, activities, etc.

Mike and I have experienced amazing change through PROS. We have performed with the PROS band, which is where we met and had participat­ed in poetry groups. We performed in PROS talent shows and on open mic nights. The PROS program has provided us with nu­merous opportunities to safely challenge ourselves in new ways.

Then the pandemic be­gan. We were challenged to continue our progress. But, as recovery remained a priority for us, with Jawonio PROS help we safely adapted.

Every day, we Zoomed into our PROS classes, and eventually, on our own, we decided to challenge ourselves in the way that PROS had pre­pared us for.

We started to explore composing and writing our own music. Using our poetry, a guitar, pa­per, and pen, we sat down and created our first song, “Blinded.”