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Loudoun Times-Mirror: A Place to Be performers let Leesburg students know ‘it’s OK to feel’
March 25, 2019 John W. Tolbert Jr. Elementary School in Leesburg was the “place to be” March 20, when five members of the local therapeutic arts organization A Place to Be communicated the basic idea “it’s OK to feel” through the performance of their song, “You gotta feel.” The writers of the song, Skylar Freeman…
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Loudoun Now: Young Couple with Disabilities Brings Their Story to the Stage
Nov 14, 2018 There’s a group of young people working to deliver a message to middle schoolers throughout Loudoun County: that hope can persist despite challenges. Their medium is a 40-minute musical performance that puts the spotlight on characters facing challenges, such as physical and mental disabilities, and portrays them in positions of strength. The…
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Winchester Star: ‘A Mother’s Will’ encourages teen to reach out for help
September 10, 2018 WINCHESTER — If any good could come from the very worst thing a mother could imagine, Ann-Charlotte Robinson meant to find it. “A Will To Survive,” a stage play, is the result. Through spoken word and song, it memorializes Will Robinson, Charlotte’s son, who died by suicide in 2016. The piece, co-written…
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Abira and The Mountain featured in Country Spirit Magazine
September 1, 2018 A Place To Be’s new original touring musical was featured in the fall edition of Country Spirit Magazine!
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Loudoun Now: $64K Donation Targets Suicide Prevention in Loudoun Schools
Jan 17, 2017 With an eye on preventing suicide and other mental health concerns among young people, the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation and Inova Loudoun Hospital are teaming up to bring two touring mental and physical health awareness theatrical productions to Loudoun County’s public schools. The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation has committed to donating $32,444…
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Loudoun Now: Year In Review: Loudoun’s Parents, Teens Partner to Prevent Suicide
December 29, 2016 Loudoun rates among the best places to live. Its families, on average, bring home some of the biggest paychecks in the nation. And its schools boast graduation rates and SAT scores that are head and shoulders above state and national averages. But, this year, the county has also had to stomach a…
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Loudoun Now: ‘A Will to Survive’: Music Therapists, Teen Rockers Take on Suicide in Rock Opera
Sep 29, 2016 When Ann-Charlotte Robinson’s son Will committed suicide in January at the age of 17, her longtime friend Tom Sweitzer felt a call to reach out to teens with a message of hope through music. With Robinson’s participation, Sweitzer, a well-known local music therapist and his colleague Cedric Dimapilis created a rock opera,…
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Loudoun Times-Mirror: Musical touring Loudoun County schools addresses suicide prevention
September 22, 2016 After reading aloud a letter Loudoun Valley High School student Will Robinson’s parents wrote to him at the teen’s funeral and seeing a crowd of his peers mourning his suicide in January, Middleburg music therapist Tom Sweitzer had an epiphany. He realized he had to create something that could bring hope to…