The Dean and JoJo Children’s Enrichment Foundation is a non-profit organization helping children maintain psychological health by learning positive ways of coping and adapting to stress.

This mission is achieved via the implementation of 3 separate story-telling and activity programs that can be lead by professionals, para-professionals, teachers, social workers, nurses, trained adult volunteers, and in one of our programs, by teenagers with adult supervision.

Our aim is to distribute our program with training provided by our organization free of charge to schools, hospitals, mental health centers, and the military.  Once training is provided in the use of our programs, the programs may be implemented by on site staff and those trained may in turn train others.

Our 3 programs are called Coping with Bullies and Intolerance, Coping with Medical Illness or Disability, and Coping with the Loss or Absence of a Parent Deployed in the Military. 

Our programs target children ranging in age from 3 to 18.

The Coping with Bullies and Intolerance Program uses an active Socratic discussion format to help children identify and define bullying and intolerance.  Strategies for actively coping with these problems are highlighted.  A story-telling program and DVD presentation in which the true story of a friendship between a wild dolphin and a human is presented.  Aspects of the story that involve the human and dolphin ways of coping with bullies and intolerance are emphasized.  An activity program in which children rehearse strategies for coping with bullies and intolerance is followed by a brief summary discussion.  Running time:  70-90 minutes.

The Coping with Medical Illness or Disability Program also uses an active Socratic discussion format to help children identify feelings associated with being ill or disabled.  Strategies for actively coping with and altering feelings associated with incapacity such as helplessness are highlighted.  A story-telling program and DVD presentation in which the true story of a friendship between a wild dolphin and a human is presented.  Aspects of the story that involve the human and dolphin ways of coping with illness, injury, and disability are emphasized.  An activity program in which children rehearse strategies for coping with illness and disability is followed by a brief summary discussion.  Running time:  70-90 minutes. 

The Coping with the Loss or Absence of a Parent Deployed in the Military Program. Since 9/11 over 1 million children have had a parent deployed in the military.  This program also uses an active Socratic discussion format to help children identify feelings associated with losing a parent who is killed in action, coping with a parent who returns home disabled, or coping with the absence of a parent who is deployed. Strategies for actively coping with and altering feelings associated with incapacity such as helplessness are highlighted.  A story-telling program and DVD presentation in which the true story of a friendship between a wild dolphin and a human is presented.  Aspects of the story that involve the human and dolphin ways of coping with loss, death, and being reunited with an injured loved one are emphasized.  An activity program in which children rehearse strategies for coping with grief, loss, and anxiety about a deployed loved one is followed by a brief summary discussion.  This program has a component in which teenagers who are from families of active military personnel can learn to run the program for other younger children from active military families.  We have discovered that training teenagers to run the program with adult supervision not only provides education and intervention for the younger children, but also empowers and consolidates the self-esteem and coping mechanisms among the teenaged leaders.  Running time:  70-90 minutes.