My Nonprofit Reviews

I was an active member of the Hand Reach Beat Brigade for over a year. Beat Brigade is a program that uses group hand drumming as a therapeutic process to aid in the emotional healing, physical therapy, and social development of trauma survivors. The effectiveness of the Beat Brigade method was evident with every practice session and open drumming session I attended, as I witnessed (and personally experienced) attendees with varying levels of physical and/or emotional distress begin to relax, open up, brighten, become engaged, and end the session in a very different place than where they began. I did not have the opportunity to go to Beijing with Beat Brigade and other Hand Reach team members in July of 2011, but the stories - and photos! - they brought back were amazing! I am so impressed by the Hand Reach mission and the passion of its founder, Dr. Brecken Chinn Schwartz, and by how great an impact Hand Reach has already had in the first few years of its existence. Brecken has such a powerful vision for Hand Reach, and the energy, enthusiasm, and pure joy she brings to her work are both infectious and inspiring. She has attracted and motivated quite an array of talented collaborators, ,who share her commitment to the Hand Reach mission. An investment in Hand Reach is a guaranteed investment in a powerful and successful healing organization.

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