Why Dream Up Now -

Why Dream Up Now?

Why Dream Up Now? With these staggering statistics, the idea for helping young people move from darkness into light formed the foundation of Dream Up Now.

It’s a phenomenon cutting across suburban, urban and rural demographics.

In a recent study, about 3 million American teens ages 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode. (Dept. of Health and Human Services.)
30% of girls and 20% of boys totalling 6.3 million teens had an anxiety disorder. (National Institute of Mental Health)
In 2015, more than 2 million teens reported experiencing depression that impaired their day function. (Dept. of Health and Human Services.)

The Dream Up Now™ guided journal offers a fun and cost-effective solution to managing fluctuating teen emotions, while supporting positive mental health. Increasingly, schools are turning to counseling and outreach to alleviate the epidemic of anxiety and depression affecting adolescents nationwide. Community support raises awareness and helps educate teens about the importance of self-care.
However, there’s an engaging and effective solution to managing fluctuating teen emotions and mental health that is proven in countless studies, and is relatively easy for budget-minded libraries, schools, and parents to implement: the arts.

Each person has an individual approach to self-expression, so it’s important to offer a mix of creative opportunities.

How Does Using the Dream Up Now™ Guided Journal Improve Your Community’s Future?

The journal addresses critical issues for a variety of student populations. Every school has its unique challenges, and cognitive and developmental psychology shows us that managing emotions is the common thread for both problem-solving and creating a path to success. In a recent study, Arts Education and Positive Youth Development, visual arts students reported significantly higher levels of school attachment than non-visual arts students, and for every year of arts study, there was a 20% reduction in the likelihood that an adolescent would ever be suspended out-of-school. It’s fair to interpret this stat as a proactive step toward helping your student population to become more engaged, respectful of property, and just plain caring.

But Do the Arts Only Benefit the “Artsy” People?

Do you have to be artsy to lead Dream Up Now™? Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Education, says, “It’s a myth that creativity is just something you’re born with or that lands as one brilliant aha! The reality: Creativity is a way of thinking and acting that we can all get better at.” Creativity is an asset that builds with practice.

Start learning now - Courses for Teens and Instructors

“Dream Up Now is a great tool for encouraging teens to really think through their emotions, breaking down their responses to a wide variety of emotions and processing them creatively – through writing, drawing, music, reflection, planning and more.” – Christie Burnett, Childhood101.com