Golden Bridge is a non-profit educational and charitable organization
whose primary goal is to allow gifted and/or challenged young people across the globe to
interact in positive ways with their families, their peers, and their communities from a place
of deep kinesthetic connection with their bodies and hearts, with the earth, and with all of
life, seen and unseen.
At the foundation of all of our programs is somatic, dance-based work that educates people
about how to renegotiate trauma and shock in the body, how to express oneself in life serving
and creative ways, and how to access one’s vision, one’s will, and ultimately one’s capacity to
practically develop and implement one’s creative work in the world. This organization’s work
involves ongoing intensive mentoring, classes, events, and trainings that invite individuals,
groups, and communities into an intimate and direct dialogue with their challenges and their
gifts.
Our services are focused on youth and the adults who serve them, including families,
educators, community leaders, and health professionals. In support of our ongoing
programming, we offer one-on-one mentorship along with numerous youth rites of passage
educational programs coupled to assist young people from numerous cultures find the inner
and outer resources necessary to create safe and productive lives. These programs, offered
during the summers and throughout the school year, provide young people with specific
social, psychological, creative, and leadership skills that allow them to transform addictions,
rebuild self-esteem, and discover life affirming creative pathways for expressing themselves in
the world. Through our intensive movement-based programs, youth develop inner strength,
resiliency, and self-esteem, along with fundamental outer competencies to become active
members of community, at local, national, and international levels.
In collaboration and/or follow-up to our programs, we also provide some of the young people
with financial support that allows them to pursue extra therapies or educational opportunities
that they otherwise could never afford.
Our programs serve the special needs of youth that are often missed in our school systems
and youth development programming. We welcome all young people including at-risk and/or
gifted youth |
who are considered highly successful in the world, yet they are deeply
unsatisfied with their lives and desperate to create new social, educational, economic, and
environmental norms.
Golden Bridge has assimilated SomaSource™ knowledge, experience, and programming that has been
developed over a number of years by Melissa Michaels regarding use of somatic, dance-based
psycho-educational activities to improve the lives of young people.
These programs are directed by
Melissa and co-facilitated by a group of core faculty and youth leaders who have graduated
from previous programs or apprenticeships with Melissa. We anticipate eventually fully
actualizing these programs in New Zealand, Auroville, South India, and in South Africa.
Strong
liaisons in each of these countries are now being built, connecting both with others doing
rites of passage work with youth and with youth leaders seeking
training in these integrative transformational modalities.
These central programs are funded by tuition from the small
percentage of youth whose parents can afford this kind of experience,
along with the donations of private funders. Many in-kind donations
are also made by staff, faculty, and local Boulder merchants. We serve youth from
over 18 countries, bringing them together for healing, dialogue, visioning,
and action. Over the past years, five Tamil youth from South India have come to the United
States to participate in our rites of passage programs. Young people
have also come from Brazil, Bulgaria, Spain, Austria, New Zealand,
England, Canada, Russia, and Israel to participate in these programs.
We give thanks for support from our community. This is simple, life sustaining
work, rebuilding community and connection with and for
young people. If you are moved to serve this initiative, financially or
otherwise, we will welcome your call 1-877-B-GOLD-56 or
email.
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