MODULATE
Trauma Healing Through Music Science and Art
An After-School Family Support Program
Modulate is...
A six-week creative arts and wellness intervention program
Facilitated by Dr. Camisha Chambers of IV-CHARIS / Refuge Trauma Recovery Institute, in partnership with Dr. Shantel Thomas of A Sound Mind Counseling
Why This Matters Now
Students across the country are navigating increased behavioral health challenges, trauma, and stress, while families often face barriers to accessing timely and culturally responsive care. Current wait times for youth mental health services in Butler County can exceed six months, leaving schools to carry the weight of unmet needs.
This program is designed to fill that gap inside the school community by providing:
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Immediate, on-site assessments.
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After-school family interventions that reduce stigma.
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Practical tools to improve emotional regulation, resilience, and parent-child
connection.
Program Highlights
Core Program:
Six-week creative arts therapy program (extendable to twelve weeks) with parents, caregivers, guardians.
Program Format:
After-school sessions, with an option to also run at school family events (PTA/PAC nights).
Modulate Experiences:
Music, art, storytelling, dance and movement, and mindfulness exercises, all paired with applied trauma coping skills for healing and resiliency.
Supports Included:
Meals, stipends, referrals to twenty-one vital health pathways, and continued relationships with the program's Community Ambassador and Community Health Worker.
School-Aligned:
Designed as enrichment, minimizing classroom disruption.
Group Size:
We work with the host school to identify up to fifteen families – students and their parents, guardians, or caregivers – to partner with for this transformative program.
Established Success:
Our pilot program, which included trauma healing through storytelling and music showed strong outcomes in deepening parent-child connection.
How It Works
This section provides a brief overview of the program workflow. If you would like an in-depth breakdown of the program or would like more information about partnering with IV-CHARIS and the Refuge Trauma Recovery Institute for future Modulate cohorts, please email Dr. Camisha Chambers at camisha.chambers@iv-charis.com.
Student Identification
Students selected to participate in the Modulate program are identified by the host school in coordination with trusted Success Liaisons and staff. Parents receive program information and provide opt-in consent.
The Fun Begins!
Weekly after-school sessions include learning by doing. Sessions blend parent-child joint activities in art, music, storytelling, dance/movement, and mindfulness with optional parent-only workshops. Meals and participation stipends provided.
Baseline Assessments
Initial engagement with Dr. Shantel Thomas and the team from A Sound Mind Counseling helps ensure that each student and their family members are a good match for the program and will benefit from the resources we provide.
Extension Option
At the end of the initial six weeks, families will be offered the opportunity to continue for six more weeks. This additional period will focus on helping individuals and families build deeper resiliency and communication skills.
Family Orientation
Orientation covers program structure and goals, parent involvement expectations, confidentiality and stigma reduction, and the support systems available through and in partnership with our program.
Completion and Transition
Post-program assessments will occur, along with opportunities for feedback to help refine the program. Families will graduate with certificates and recognition, while also being connected to ongoing supports and future touchpoint to stay connected.
Modulate Means...
As a verb, the word modulate means to tune to, to adjust to or keep in proper proportion, or to pass gradually from one state to another. As a program, Modulate offers the same outcomes.
Through the use of music, art, storytelling, dance / movement, and mindfulness activities, participants receive assistance in identifying past and present trauma, are empowered to begin or continue processings its impact, and are equipped to move forward toward healing and resiliency – as individuals, as families, and within their broader communities.
Modulate offers coping techniques and a better understanding of self-care, connects people with vital resources, and strengthens relationships now and for the future.
Program Successes
We first partnered with H.O.P.E.-full Pastures in December 2024, beginning with a Christmas painting session for the children enrolled in their program. Their high level of engagement was so evident in our first session that the organization's founder immediately invited us to expand into a spring series. In response, our team launched a six-week therapeutic music and art program for foster families in Butler County during Spring 2025.
The response was powerful. Every family participated, with many openly expressing their need for emotional support. Sixty-three percent of the families acknowledged experiencing system-induced trauma, and we also saw firsthand the effects of complex trauma carried by children before entering foster care.
Some session topics included:
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Music and Improvisation
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Music and its Cognitive Effects
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The Art of a Story
At the conclusion, H.O.P.E.-full Pasture's founder shared that the program had been “an incredible gift” to both parents and children, offering emotional healing and resilience. Parents, in particular, valued the bonding moments the sessions created. Four specifically highlighted the storytelling activities as transformational, helping them better understand their foster children’s experiences and behaviors. During the program, twenty-five percent of parents openly wept in gratitude, finally able to “name” the heavy burdens they were carrying, while half of the participants showed visible emotional release.
The children were equally engaged, with an eighty-five percent participation rate across sessions. One especially moving example was an eight-year-old child who initially resisted the process—crying, throwing art materials, and even leaving the classroom. With patience, mindfulness strategies, and therapeutic music, the child gradually opened up. By the final week, they were fully participating, expressed affection to our team, and even gifted one of their art pieces as a thank-you. Watching this transformation was deeply moving for our team.
Staff and volunteers repeatedly emphasized how valuable this intervention was, calling it an unexpected yet essential addition to their curriculum. As a result, we’ve been invited to return for another six-week series, and discussions are underway to expand the program to include the biological children of foster families as well.
Modulate Team Leads
Get to know the Program and Assessment Leads who make Modulate possible.
