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North Carolina’s <br />“stay at home” order <br />(Executive Order <br />117) had a profound <br />impact on the arts <br />sector. Describe the <br />specific steps your <br />organization took to <br />comply with <br />Executive Order 117. <br />The majority of the clients the Art Therapy Institute serv es are under <br />the age of 18 and are serv ed in the school systems. W ith the <br />enactment of Executiv e Order 117, ATI acted quickly to find ways to <br />reach these students. Ov erwhelmed by all the new changes, the <br />schools asked that ATI not try to offer the art therapy groups, both <br />the Exceptional Children’s groups and the Newcomer groups, online <br />so those groups were put on hold. Howev er, all of the ATI clinicians <br />were willing and able to offer online indiv idual serv ices to the children <br />they were seeing in the schools. Not all of the young clients had <br />access to computers so the clinicians worked with the families to find <br />ways to connect with the children, often using the cellphone of <br />another family member. W hile this method was not ideal, offering <br />support to the children in some way during this stressful time was <br />important. <br />To get supplies to the children, clinicians mailed supplies to some <br />children and deliv ered supplies to others in a safe, socially distanced <br />manner. Many of the children ATI serv es liv e below the pov erty lev el <br />and do not hav e the means to purchase supplies. They truly <br />appreciated receiv ing these kits during the first few weeks of the <br />pandemic. <br />ATI also transitioned the Arts and Peer Support Group online <br />immediately. The current members were open to this format and the <br />group actually grew as others who prev iously had not been able to <br />join due to lack of transportation were now able to simply log on. <br />Ov er the summer, the school district dev eloped an online camp for <br />the Exceptional Children’s program and the Art Therapy Institute was <br />an activ e partner in that endeav or. In addition, the group for adults <br />with intellectual and dev elopmental disabilities with NC Start mov ed <br />online. <br />Though the restrictions related to gathering hav e been reduced, ATI <br />has committed to continuing our serv ices online for the safely and <br />health of our clients and clinicians. This fall we hav e been working <br />with the school systems to restart our Exceptional Children Art <br />Therapy Groups and the Newcomers Art Therapy Groups online. The <br />logistics of getting these groups running hav e been immense, <br />especially getting art supplies for a year’s worth of therapy to so <br />many clients. The extra work, howev er, is important giv en the stress <br />the pandemic has placed on many clients’ mental health. <br />Because the pandemic is affecting ev eryone’s mental health, ATI has <br />made an effort to collaborate with other agencies to reach ev en more <br />people with our serv ices. In addition to increasing the number of <br />workshops we normally offer, ATI has offered numerous workshops <br />on self-care. This summer, ATI collaborated with the ArtsCenter in <br />Carrboro to offer online therapeutic art classes. ATI has also offered <br />online groups in conjunction with Reintegration Support Network and <br />UNC Hospital’s pediatric hematology oncology department. ATI has <br />plans for further online collaborations this fall. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 3B7987D4-AE68-4972-853F-8188A0E8440B