The Resiliency Center of Newtown (RCN) is inviting Newtown residents to stop in on Monday, September 24, for an open house.

Having opened in September 2013, RCN has for five years provided free and confidential services, programs, and events to assist in the healing process for anyone in the greater Newtown community impacted by the events of 12/14. This is done through art therapy, music therapy, and play therapy, all led by board-certified therapists; healing therapies including brainspotting, Masgutova Neuro-Sensory-Motor Reflex Integration (MNRI); Camp Creativity, an annual day camp filled with songs and music, hiking, sports, and arts and crafts experiences, also with RCN’s therapists; special programs such as Girls Tribe and Radiant Runners; and fundraising events, among other offerings.

The public is invited to meet staff members, learn about RCN’s offerings, and enjoy a chair massage between 9 am and noon on Monday.

Staff members are careful to not call Monday’s event a celebration.

“We all know why we’re here,” Beth Hegarty, the client relations and administrative support specialist at RCN, said last week.

The center is busy, says Jennifer Sokira, a music therapist at RCN.

The winter months are generally the busiest for RCN.

“December, January, February, and March, we tend to take in the most new clients,” she mentioned.

Ms Hegarty said RCN also sees an uptick in services during back to school seasons. Ms Cinque agreed, saying “transitions are difficult.

“People are utilizing our services more than ever, especially in this last year,” she said September 14. “There were retraumatizing events that brought people in, some for the first time. Parkland and Santa Fe were really significant,” she added, referring to mass casualty shooting events at high schools in Florida on February 14 and Texas on May 18, respectfully.

“People coming in and working through, and finding ways forward, that’s a real positive,” Ms Sokira said.

Ms Hegarty said the fifth anniversary of 12/14 was busy for RCN and its staff. Ms Cinque agreed, saying that studies show anniversaries “are very significant, as are retraumatizing events.

“Unfortunately, since Sandy Hook School, there’s been so many school shootings,” she continued. “Every time something happens, it’s very activating for someone who was involved.”

Monday’s open house is an attempt to remind area residents that help is available for anyone affected by 12/14.

“There are still people in town who are not intimately involved in the school system, who responded to the tragedy… or maybe not live in town, or are first responders who are otherwise not involved in town, that are still just becoming aware of our services and coming to us for the first time,” Ms Cinque said. “One of our goals is to continue to reach people who are impacted and need services, and aren’t aware that we’re here.”

What surprises the women is that people are still finding out about RCN’s existence and its services.

“Across the board, we are absolutely still seeing new people,” Ms Cinque said. “We have three to five new referrals every week. Adults to children, male and female.” One of the biggest misconceptions about the center is that it only serves children.

In addition to the services and programs presented in Newtown, RCN staff has been able to share with other cities some of the lessons they have learned over the past five years. They have served as consultants and shared their experiences with others across the country, Ms Cinque said.

Ms Sokira served as a music therapy training consultant following the Parkland shootings in February and the October 2017 shootings at a concert in Las Vegas, among other incidents she has responded to.

“The kind of resources we wished we had at our disposal” when 12/14 happened, Ms Sokira said, is the kind of information RCN has been able to pay forward for others. They are actively developing tools and programs for other cities, to prepare them for a problem that continues to escalate, said Ms Cinque, who serves on boards associated with Boston, New York City and Charleston, S.C.

“People always want to know what to do after a tragedy,” Ms Cinque said. “As we have learned here, everyone is very overwhelmed, a lot of people come in, and it’s really hard to navigate it under such pressure. “If there could be a system that could respond ahead of time,” she continued, “or be in place for when something happens, that could help people move forward.”

For much of its existence, RCN has been able to offer its programs and services without charge.

Ms Cinque said last week the center’s mission has remained essentially the same since the center opened.

“The only shift in the mission as we grow and expand, and shift sustainability, is that we have gone from all free services to charging a nominal program fee,” she said September 14. “We still do not charge for support therapy.”

RCN is primarily (approximately 70 percent) grant funded, Ms Cinque said last week. Individual donations continue to also help the enter exist. Due to insurance regulations, none of the music or art therapies are billable to insurance companies.

RCN is waiting to hear on a grant from a local organization that will allow the center to take on another part-time music therapist. That person will offer evening sessions, “our most coveted hours,” Ms Cinque said.

The Resiliency Center of Newtown is at 153 South Main Street; entry is through the lower rear level of the building. Reservations or appointments are not needed for Monday, which will be a drop-in event. For information, call 203-364-9750 or visit [naviga:u]resiliencycenterofnewtown.org[/naviga:u].