Watch mental health professionals Elizabeth Gallo and Yunjee Cho share their passion for movement-infused drumming as they lead a circle at a community festival for the first time.
In the midst of chaos and noise at Pathways Family Fun Day festival, Elizabeth and Yunjee took a spontaneous risk of setting aside their carefully curated plans in favor of trusting their gut on choosing activities, leaders, and delivery nuances according to the energy and needs of the group. Their discovery? “When you lead from your heart, it’s a very different thing. I’m learning that sometimes when we overthink things we get in our own way.” Letting go of attachment to a plan replaced their anxiety with sheer joy that, in turn, sparked joy in their participants.
Responding to the space and energy in the room, they also tried other effective and innovative ways to invite participation. They placed drums behind seats to encourage kids to touch them in curiosity. They invited adults to rest their weary feet and put down their prize winnings. They recruited festival volunteers to participate for self-care. After they shared their drum-circle clip on social media , they even received two invitations to lead similar experiences.
While this was their first time leading a drum circle at a festival, Elizabeth and Yunjee are not newcomers to the art form. In their roles as school psychologist and school counselor for Long Beach Unified School District, they have been delivering our full Beat the Odds® drumming curriculum and our Youth-Led Model they partnered with us to pilot. Yunjee reflects that drumming has “opened a door for them in working with students,” particularly those “who don’t do well with school counseling on a school site.”
Elizabeth shares that the program helps her “feel connected in a very somatic way with many children who are neurodivergent and often told ‘no.’ For them to be in a space where I am saying ‘Yes let’s do this’. . . and for them to feel part of a safe container to express themselves and voice what they want to do empowers them.” Yunjee adds, “We get to celebrate their creativity, like students coming up with their own rules, and they get to celebrate things they are good at and enjoying.” They have also been teaching their colleagues how to use the drum for breathwork, which students like.
Stephanie Kubicek, also a school counselor in Long Beach, appreciates the gentle framework of our Youth-ed Model, which invites organic opportunities for students to develop agency, leadership, and teamwork—citing, for example, that students decided how to partner in delivering activities and put them in an order that made sense to them. “You learn something new from the kids every time.”
She shared a humorous moment of enlightenment for a fifth grade group that dramatically flopped to the ground after leading a session with a third grade classroom that did not listen, sit still, or keep their hands off the drums. After being asked, “What did you learn?,” they replied, “We need to apologize to our teachers for bad behavior.” This proved to be a priceless opportunity for reflection on empathy. When debriefing on how they would handle such participant behavior in the future, the group “troublemaker” appointed himself as the enforcer of agreements. Those that are shy, reserved, or lacking in confidence will come out of their shell to try something new.
Elizabeth, Yunjee, and Stephanie find it gratifying to work alongside students, not in traditional “top down” style. And following their own creative instincts elicits playfulness, passion, and joy in their work.
Click here for more information on our Beat the Odds® Program, including our upcoming fall training session and information on bringing the program to your work or school.
Article by Ping Ho, MA, MPH; Photograph and videography by Noemi Argueta