(bright music) (upbeat drum music) (people talking in background) - I love the history of FAR because we do play a big role in the community for people with disabilities.

But we were founded in 1951 by parents who wanted someplace for their adult children to socialize.

And over years those same parents advocated for the Special Needs Act in Michigan to allow kids with disabilities to go to public schools.

So we kind of closed up very, very briefly and then came back together because we quickly realized that the kids weren't still getting the services they needed.

So the board of directors came together and decided to really focus on creative arts and recreational services for people with disabilities.

We offer all different kinds of creative arts therapies under one roof.

We do music therapy, art therapy, dance movement therapy, and recreational services.

- At FAR I am a music therapist as well as the director of therapeutic staff.

So half of my week is providing music therapy with clients with a variety of disabilities, mostly with children and adolescents in a school setting.

And the other half of my job is an administrative role supporting new staff as they onboard and also providing clinical supervision to our therapy team.

Music therapy looks like a lot of fun.

We might be engaged in playing instruments and making up our own songs and working on just our own emotional and self-expression.

When you're engaging in music making all day with your clients, there's a vulnerability in that.

And I've really come to appreciate my clients who show up and they're so authentic and they inspire me to just come as who I am that day and to embrace who I am as a person.

- Art therapy is basically a mixture of counseling and art and so it helps the clients.

And I usually, I don't say clients.

They're my friends, I say my friend, my bud, my buddy, but it helps the clients to take out any frustration through the art.

So I've learned that I'm not always the teacher 'cause I walk in as the art therapist and you think that you're the one, you know, giving the lesson, teaching the lesson, and a lot of times they teach you a lot of different things.

It's those little nuggets that we get on a day-to-day basis where you may have a child that's usually nonverbal and then you'll walk through the door and they're like, "Hey Miss Parina, how are you?"

And it just blows your mind and warms your heart at the same time.

So just those little nuggets that we get day to day where they just surprise you.

- What really makes FAR so unique is the fact that we provide creative arts therapy for people with disabilities of any age and any diagnosis.

And what's so unique about that is you can come as a child and you're always welcome here.

You're never gonna age out of our programs.

One of the clients, which there are many that bring me joy here at FAR, is Juan.

Juan has been a client here at FAR for over 20 years, which is so exciting, and I think he's pretty much done every therapy that we've offered.

(cymbals chiming) - We seek out therapists who are passionate and people who really care about their jobs and they really care about people and making a difference in someone's life.

I think FAR is a really incredible place for clinical staff to develop our skills and sharpen each other as clinicians because we have a really strong team.

My coworkers all come from different backgrounds and different work experiences and we can teach each other so much about how to be the best therapists that we can be.

- It is wonderful being with an organization with like-minded people that share the same vision for working with children as well as adults that I have.

And we understand what, you know, what we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis and we can actually communicate with each other when we're having issues ourselves as well.

- We really a few years ago decided that we really wanted to be more of a community center for families with people with disabilities so we started offering all different kinds of opportunities.

- Well, the way I hope FAR combats societal stereotypes is saying individuals with special needs as people because they are just that, just people, and you'd be surprised and amazed at what they can do.

And I think sometimes when people think of special needs, they think of what people can't do, what they can't do.

And I've worked with some exceptional individuals, some exceptional friends as I called them.

(drums beating)