Residents at Tully House Residential Reentry Center in Newark, New Jersey, a program operated by GEO Reentry Services, took part in a range of creative, prosocial activities during the month of February, including Valentine’s Day cardmaking workshops on February 7 and 10.
Tully House’s education department develops supplemental activities for residents to participate in throughout the year that help promote teambuilding skills, critical thinking, creativity and socialization. For the third year, Tully House’s holiday crafting workshops provided an opportunity for residents to create personalized Valentine’s Day cards that were distributed on Family Night or mailed to their children.
“This workshop was created to encourage the residents’ continuous growth in building their relationship with their children,” said Tully House Education Manager Samantha Brooks. “The residents always arrive at the workshop saying, ‘I am not that artistic nor creative,’ but they leave with a masterpiece.”
In addition to the cardmaking workshop, Tully House offers a range of enriching educational programs and activities for residents, including a music program, that allow them to engage in prosocial learning in a creative way.
Other programs and services currently offered at Tully House include substance abuse programming, individual and group counseling, psycho-educational and cognitive restructuring, domestic violence, parenting skills, 12-step meetings, educational training, vocational training and job placement.
