Local

New program uses poetry, art to help teens overcome adversity

Hope at Hands is a new program helping young people overcome adversity in Jacksonville.

Hope at Hands is a new program helping young people overcome adversity in Jacksonville.

It uses the power of words to help people who have been involved in drugs, the sex trade or spent time behind bars overcome pain.

The teenagers use poetry and art to cope and recover.

Photos: New program uses art, poetry to help troubled youth

It’s a tool they can use throughout their lifetime.

Steffanie Flatcher, the executive director for Hope at Hands, began the organization after 23 years of teaching.

She said she started the organization because she wanted a change.

“We like to think we bring them into this little bubble wherever they are and they get to get in and be a kid again and not have to worry about what they did in the past,” she said.

Since 2009 the organization has helped thousands in facilities like Gateway and the Sulzbacher Center.

Delores Barr Weaver Fund will match funds donated to Hope at Hands through the end of the year.

For more information, visit the organization's website.