This article was contributed by Paradise Rotarian, Donn Thomson. Images were contributed by the Balanced Brain Project.
Casey Taylor is the Executive Director of Achieve Charter School of Paradise Inc. The Paradise Rotary Foundation (PRF) has been a financial supporter of Achieve Charter School more than once. In 2018 Achieve Charter High School (ACHS) opened in Paradise with a “Maker Space” as part of Achieve’s Entrepreneurship Pathway program funded in part by the Foundation in the amount of $18,614.00. Then the Camp Fire destroyed the entire ACHS facility.
Under Director Taylor’s guidance, Achieve Charter School of Paradise moved to a “temporary” facility in Chico. The students and staff with parental and community support all moved to Chico. But so did the aftereffects of the Camp Fire in the form of PTSD. The students needed recovery therapy.
Casey found a well-suited therapist in Jess Mercer, the artist who was inspired to create the famous Key Phoenix sculpture for Paradise. Although not a licensed therapist, Ms. Mercer’s background forged her into the perfect person to provide PTSD therapy through art. She developed Balanced Brain, an art-based therapy program.
In April of 2020, Casey applied for and received a $39,000 Grant from the PRF to support the art-centric, after school PTSD recovery program, Balanced Brain. North Valley Community Foundation also provided augmenting funds. The PRF Grant provided funds for childcare, supplies for the classes, staff pay, and after school snacks. It also provided potentially needed funds to rent additional classroom space from the Life Church. That need, fortunately, didn’t materialize. Unfortunately, though, all this happened before the serious lockdown and stay at home orders of the pandemic.
So, Jess took her lessons online. She created general lessons on YouTube. She offered her lessons virtually in a distance learning format. Originally designed to assist students suffering from the trauma of the Camp Fire, the Balanced Brain Project is clearly helpful to deal with the stresses of the pandemic. Using art projects as a conduit, Jess presented the fundamentals of stress management. She instructed students to identify their feelings, emotions, and to think about healthy habits. These, she explained, can be triggers to good emotional response. She stressed the basics of sleeping, eating, and exercising to balance body and brain.
In October 2020 classes moved back on campus. At that point, Jess worked a five-day-a-week schedule for 4th through 8th grade students. Each day of the week she focused on a singular grade level beginning with the 4th grade on Monday. Jess has subsequently gone back to providing online instruction, making the therapy available for entire families. Director Casey stated that the classes truly work for all ages. She remarked that, “When I watch one of Jess’s sessions, I feel like I’m getting trauma treatment.” This is important for Paradise families because of the multiple stresses they are dealing with which include Zoom classes, isolation from friends, and everyone’s emotional roller coasters.
Bigger plans are in the development stage. Director Casey plans to operate 2 campuses in the Fall of 2021 by opening the Paradise Campus, taking the Balanced Brain Project along. Grades Kindergarten through 5th Grade will be housed at the St. Thomas More facility. The online YouTube sessions are packaged in such a way as to be useful for both the Paradise Unified and Chico Unified School Districts and discussions along those lines are ongoing. Lastly, Achieve Charter School in Chico is planning to remain on their campus in Chico and is applying for a permanent use permit for the property with the City of Chico.
Achieve Charter School is a small, family oriented educational environment. Their website thoroughly describes their mission, vision, and a detailed history. Being uprooted from their home of inception due to the Camp Fire, serving families residing in two communities, and operating under the constraints of the pandemic have presented monumental challenges. But they successfully persevere, deserving respect, gratitude, and applause.
Images of student artwork participating in the Balanced Brain Project.
