Ji8¸£ÀûÊÓƵ

Paul Kuc, Recreation Program Director

Of course you like to have fun! Maybe you enjoy being silly, joking, and cracking up laughing. Maybe you like adventure, thrills, excitement, and physical challenges. Traveling might be exciting, and listening and moving to music might be nice. Soccer could be good, or maybe swimming, or hiking. Getting tired and feeling yourself being stronger the next time isn’t bad. Movies, plays, concerts, and museums aren’t bad either. And sharing these activities with others often adds so much.

But for many of us, the joy in life is hard to find and sustain. Opportunities don’t come our way and when they do, things get in the way. Ways that we feel interfere and it just doesn’t work out. We’re anxious, defensive, tired, unprepared, and distracted.

BHN’s Recreation Program was founded by the counseling center at Valley Human Services in 1978 and I have been its director since then. It is funded by the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to support young people ages 8-19 to find joy, excitement, and happiness by participating in a wide range of social, recreation, and leisure-time activities with peers in the community. The program provides special support to make these activities accessible and enjoyable to youth who cope with the challenges of serious mental health and emotional issues, as well as the typical challenges posed by growing up in our world.



The Recreation Program offers a weekly schedule of events that include arts, crafts and hobbies, sports, cultural events, swimming, an equestrian program, movie-going, adventure outings, and club nights. We also have public service programs and prevocational activities. But we’re perhaps best known for our exciting outdoor adventure activities that include rowing, canoeing, X-country skiing, hiking, and bicycling. Many of these activities include travel and camping and are available for family participation.

You might bump into us at the ‘Stone Soul Picnic,’ the ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ celebration, the ‘Indigenous Peoples Day.’ Or out rowing in Boston Harbor or Jamaica Bay or walking in Central Park or at the Vietnam War Memorial, or biking to Canada. Or maybe just floating down the Ware River or riding on the bike trail in Northampton.

The program is small, and our catchment area is Ware, Palmer, Monson, Ludlow, and Belchertown. We’ve never turned anyone away, but referrals must come through the area office of the DMH in Northampton. There is no cost, and we provide transportation. Keep us in mind. Smile and wave and make sure you’re getting out and having fun, meeting people, and sharing the good times.

After participating in the program, some program participants transition quickly to whatever’s next for them, such as sports, scouting or just being busy with Ji8¸£ÀûÊÓƵ, friends, and family. Others get part-time jobs, driver's licenses and go on to college. Some younger participants continue to use the program to support their growth and happiness for years. Some come and go and come back.

Eventually, we all grow up and former group members have achieved success in a wide variety of professions such as medical services, industry, food service, trucking, auto repair, landscaping, and the military. They have Ji8¸£ÀûÊÓƵ and inspire in them an appreciation of activity, learning, social engagement, culture, fitness, and nature. And then, I hear a loud, “Hey, Paul!” when I’m on some wilderness trail with the gang and this giant adult tells me that they were in the group twenty years ago and they remember all the good times they had. Sometimes their kids or even their grandkids are running around with them in the woods as well.

I close by sharing a simple thing our group has been doing that you might also enjoy. I’ll suggest sketching and pastels in nature which is what we’ve been doing as an arts and crafts activity lately. No erasers. No crinkling up anything. It’s all good, just keep at it. Look large at the view, and look closely at the detail, the flower, the leaf, the pebbles. Try drawing fast and slow. Start with pencil, but pastels add color, and, of course, you get to do smudging! Your backyard is fine, but the park, the field, the woods, and the lake shore are good too. Even if you have to take a walk to get there. Till next time, maybe I’ll see you out there!

Learn more about BHN's Developmental & Intellectual Disability Services.