There are few smiles at Urban Vision bigger than Pascal’s*. While it has been less than a year since he joined the Urban Vision family, his fun-loving attitude and big laugh have already made him a Set On Success staple. But behind his boisterous exterior, Pascal is hiding a difficult and tragic past.
One day this semester, our Set on Success Director, Jeremy Olson, caught Pascal sneaking into a room he wasn’t supposed to be in and stealing classroom material. Unfortunately, this was not the first time Pascal had been caught stealing things from Urban Vision, and Jeremy wanted to figure out why this energetic elementary schooler had this dangerous habit. As a result, the two walked back to Jeremy’s office where he had Pascal sit down and handed him a ball to pass back and forth between his hands. As Pascal passed the ball between his right and left hands, Jeremy asked him:
“Why do you feel the need to steal things?”
“Before my family moved to America, I had a brother who died. One of the only memories I have of him is watching him steal something.” Pascal responded.
“So, do you feel the need to steal things when you start to miss your brother?”
“Yes”
While it may seem shocking that an elementary schooler is able to think as deeply as Pascal was during this meeting, Jeremy wasn’t surprised. Recently, Jeremy (along with several other team members) had been reading research that found engaging both sides of a person’s body while in conversation helps their brain make deeper and more abstract connections. By encouraging Pascal to pass a ball back and forth, Jeremy was helping him establish new pathways that made processing his own emotions easier through a process called bilateral stimulation. In fact, after this conversation, Jeremy and Pascal came up with new steps he can take when he begins to miss his brother.
One of these steps was talking to his parents about him, and a week after their conversation, that’s just what Pascal did. Pascal found himself missing his brother one day after Set on Success and instead of stealing something, he asked his dad if he could tell him stories about his brother. Overcome with emotion, Pascal’s father sat down with his son and pulled out a photo album, and the two of them flipped through photos and memories of their lost loved one.
While the healing Pascal experienced may have started at Urban Vision, it wasn’t finished until he got home and experienced it with his family. That is why we believe the best care is holistic care and why living in the community is one of our core values.
*Name changed to protect privacy. Situation, Interventions, and Results are actual.
