Genographic Project Helps Teens Gain Insights Into History

Since October 2008, all Passages To Recovery students have been participating in The Genographic Project, a National Geographic-sponsored effort to gain a greater understanding of human migration patterns over the past 150,000 years. While contributing to a landmark international study, the students also receive information about the path that their ancestors took across the centuries.

“What we’re trying to do is help them develop a broad perspective of the world at large and their place in it,” said Dori Them, Executive Director of Passages To Recovery. “We’re also trying to engage their imaginations and build on the connections that they made in the wilderness.”

A clinically integrated 12-Step addiction and substance abuse treatment program for young men (ages 18 to 30), Passages To Recovery features both a significant wilderness experience and an innovative post-wilderness component during a client’s 90-day enrollment period.

The Genographic Project, which is incorporated into the post-wilderness portion of the program, provides a framework upon which young adults can solidify the lessons they learned in the wilderness while also preparing themselves for the challenges they will face as they continue on in treatment and recovery. The process, the program’s executive director said, offers psychological, sociological, and biological benefits to the men who are being treated.

“Research tells us that individuals in recovery need novel experiences in a supportive environment,” Ms. Them said. “Those two elements, plus 90 days clean and sober, allows for neuroplasticity in the brain to develop, which in turn leads to the creation of new synaptic connections. The implications for the healing of the addiction-damaged brain are profoundly significant, and offer unprecedented, evidence-based hope for recovery.”

While their brains are establishing healthier connections that will enable them to pursue long-term recovery, the Passages To Recovery students are busy building bridges toward a brighter future.

“When the students return to the Valley Site [the program’s residential transitional living facility], we work with them to help them integrate the lessons they learned in the wilderness, and to tie that experience into the rest of their lives,” Ms. Them said. “At the same time, we want to engage their imaginations as much as possible. We’re trying to get their frontal cortexes working like crazy.”

Which is where the Genographic Project comes into play.

During the students’ orientation period – before they head out into the wilderness – they lay the foundation for the work they will pursue in greater detail upon their return. They begin by creating an “addiction genogram” that identifies family members who have also struggled with addictive behaviors.

“In addiction treatment, one of the important things to discover is who else in your family has an addiction, so you can uncover your own genetic predisposition,” Ms. Them explained. “So we start with an addiction genogram. Before they go out in the field, the students identify who they know of in their family who has had problems with alcohol or other drugs.”

In addition to starting their addiction genogram, the students also take a cheek swab to collect a DNA sample that is then sent to the Genographic Project lab for analysis and inclusion in the study. When the students return from the wilderness, they will have the opportunity to add more information to their addiction genogram, and will complete a number of therapeutic activities based upon the results that they get back from the National Geographic DNA study.

Individuals who submit DNA samples to the Genographic Project get their results in about six to eight weeks, which means that the Passages To Recovery students’ information is usually waiting for them when they return from the field.

“Though the DNA project isn’t directly tied to addiction, it’s a very interesting experience that gives them a larger perspective about where they came from,” Ms. Them said. “For example, one young man discovered that his ancestors came up out of Africa, spent some time in Asia, then landed in the Balkans. From there, this bloodline migrated to what is now England during the Celtic period, and from there it crossed the ocean and came to the United States. He got really curious about Celtic culture, their music and instruments, their spiritual views, and other details about how they lived their lives.”

Armed with this information about their ancestors’ movements, the Passages To Recovery students are encouraged to delve deeper into their heritage and make connections to enrich their personal journey from addiction to recovery.

“We want students to explore what it means to have ancestors who lived in a part of the world that interests them at some point in history,” Ms. Them said. “What was life like back then? What was the culture like – the music, or the art? We do a lot with music and ritual at Passages To Recovery, and this project helps them to incorporate elements from their heritage, from the journey of their ancestors, into the rituals they create.”

Because the Passages To Recovery students also have renewed contact with their families after their time in the field, they have access to more immediate information that enables them to fill in any missing pieces of their addiction genogram. Together, the two projects give the students a greater understanding of where they come from and what influences have affected their development as they prepare to plot a course into a more satisfying and productive future.

“The addiction genograms help them see more immediate influences, while the Genographic Project takes things a few steps back and lets them know that their family is much bigger than they thought,” Ms. Them said. “It shows the students that they’re part of a long line, and that their legacy can influence future generations. It helps them to realize that they have potency in the world, and reminds them that their actions affect more than just themselves.”

For clients at Passages To Recovery, their insights into the past, their intentions for the future, and the progress they are making in the present are united in an end-of-program project to document their personal “Hero’s Journey.”

As Joseph Campbell wrote in the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the concept of the Hero’s Journey encompasses elements from disparate cultures, religions, and myths, all of which address a transcendence over conflicting forces and a renewed strength and ability:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won. The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons [gifts] on his fellow man.

At Passages To Recovery, this concept serves as a metaphor for the students’ progress to overcome their addictions and develop the skills and strategies that will allow them to establish and maintain healthy relationships while making productive contributions to their families, schools, workplaces, and communities.

This mythological concept also takes on a literal meaning at Passages, as students create a short digital film of their personal Hero’s Journey.

“We film a lot of vignettes at the Valley site, at the Family Workshop, out on field trips from the Valley Site, and during their psycho-drama work around relapse prevention. We also capture the music they make, add it to elements they take from their past that they learned about from the Genographic Project, and use it all as raw material for their films,” Ms. Them said. “They learn how to shoot and edit the film, and when they leave here, they take along a DVD of their Hero’s Journey that they made themselves.”

Though their participation in the Genographic Project enhances students’ self-awareness and helps them progress toward a drug-free future, the effort isn’t completely a self-serving endeavor, Ms. Them pointed out.

Passages To Recovery incorporates the 12-Step recovery model into students’ daily lives – for example, they complete 90 meetings during their 90-day stay – and the project allows them to complete an important step by turning their efforts outward.

“Engaging in the National Geographic Genographic Project is a way of giving back,” she said. “It provides the researchers with more information, so the students are taking part in a scientific research project that will benefit everyone. That’s the 12^th Step.”

The Genographic Project is slated to run through April 2010, which will mark the end of a five-year effort to collect a minimum of 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous and traditional people from around the world. Dori Them is confident that Passages To Recovery students will contribute to this effort as long as they have the opportunity.

“This has been a great experience for our students,” she said. “They all express interest in the project – and we’ve even had former students contact us to see if they can participate.”