CLEVELAND — The room is packed, ears are open, and expectations are high, and Walter Patton knows everyone in the room will walk away lighter.
Wednesday night was the first time Patton partnered with Cleveland Clinic for his weekly free therapy event called Ghetto Therapy, he said a clinic employee connected with him late last year.
“She reached out to me and told me she's been following me for some years and she wanted to offer the space,” said Patton. “She saw what I’ve created with Ghetto Therapy and she wanted to bring it to the community.”
Every second Wednesday of the month community members can come to The Langston Hughes Center on Cleveland’s east side and talk to a licensed counselor or even experience sound therapy for free.
“It’s something to do to help the calm the nervous system and help regulate emotions,” said Occupational Therapist Shannon Yarborough. “Sometimes we don't have the words for what we're feeling, we just feel explosive, so it’s a way to tap into the body bring body awareness and center yourself.”
News 5 introduced you to Patton and Ghetto Therapy last year, his weekly event is for everyone but especially people who experience trauma, Wednesday was teen night.
“It’s very needed because a lot of us as teens don't know how to express our feelings in a peaceful way, that’s why our music is the way it is because that's a way of expressing ourselves,” said Ted Ginn Academy junior Rameer Askew.
Askew has experienced trauma himself, he lost his teammate over the summer, 16-year-old Devonte Johnson, he was shot just steps from Glenville High School.
“He was a positive person and had nothing but love and joy inside his heart and to be to see him at a young age taken like that is hurtful,” said Askew.
Walter said this new partnership with the clinic gives him even more space for the large crowd his event attracts, so more people can walk away with healing resources.
“There's never been a time when therapists came to your doorstep, we used to outsource therapists to suburban communities but now the therapist is coming to impoverished communities,” said Patton. “That’s the thing with ghetto therapy, we are bringing therapy to the doorsteps who live in poverty.”
Ghetto Therapy occurs every Wednesday in Cleveland at 6 p.m. at 4600 Euclid Avenue and every second Wednesday of the month at 2390 E 79 Street.
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