Doc Wayne Youth Services Named as a Winner of Inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sports Award

BOSTON, Aug. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Doc Wayne Youth Services, a Mass.-based nonprofit that fuses sport and therapy to heal and strengthen youth, has been selected as a 2015 winner of the inaugural Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Sports Award. Other winners in this elite group include Tony Hawk Foundation and Chicago Fire Foundation. Doc Wayne Youth Services and the other winners will each receive a $5,000 award and will be honored at a Sept. 10, 2015 ceremony at RWJF headquarters in Princeton, N.J.

Doc Wayne Youth Services was awarded this honor for its innovative and influential approach to using sports to build a Culture of Health in its community. The Sports Award builds on the former Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy, presented by the RWJF for the past decade by placing a greater emphasis on collaboration across communities and sectors to foster a Culture of Health, the Foundation's core vision.

"We congratulate our three winning organizations," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of RWJF, "for their dedication to building a Culture of Health and their passion for giving back to their communities. Their creative approaches to using sports to help people of all ages grow and stay healthy will help their communities thrive now and for generations to come."

"We see the positive results of our work each day on the playing field or in the gym, but this incredible honor further validates the efficacy of our approach and the impact we have on the youth in our community," said David Cohen, executive director of Doc Wayne Youth Services. "We hope that this endorsement of our work will help broaden the reach of our organization and help us to impact the lives of even more youth through the power of sport, helping them find their positive path."

Doc Wayne Youth Services – Influential Leader and Model for Others Making Communities Healthier Through Sport Category Winner

Doc Wayne Youth Services fuses sport and therapy to heal and strengthen youth. The organization works primarily with low-income youth suffering from a variety of mental health challenges largely caused by exposure to complex trauma including neglect, abuse, violent crime and sexual trafficking. Doc Wayne Youth Services' sports-based intervention incorporates principles from trauma-informed care and positive youth development. Doc Wayne Youth Services reached 500 youth last year through two trauma-informed interventions. Doc Wayne's interventions are provided within housing developments, schools, and residential programs, most often in Boston and eastern Massachusetts. These innovative programs service children who do not have access to, or are resistant to, therapy. Youth have been seen running towards their therapy sessions, eager to begin. Doc Wayne Youth Services' vision for engaging, high quality, evidence-based mental health interventions is game changing.

About Doc Wayne Youth Services
Doc Wayne Youth Services, a Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) not for profit, utilizes its unique sports-based therapeutic curriculum, called do the good®, to fuse sport and therapy to heal and strengthen youth. Our clinicians and therapeutic mentor coaches teach behavioral and social emotional skills in a sports setting. While playing sports, youth practice pro-social behaviors such as positive decision-making, communication skills and impulse control. These life skills increase behavioral health and enable youth to succeed at school, at home and in their communities.

The organization primarily works with low-income youth who suffer from mental health challenges or complex trauma and offers its innovative programs in residential and community settings.

Doc Wayne Youth Services can be found online at www.docwayne.org.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sports Award
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sports Award honors individuals, organizations and teams that are making communities healthier through sport and are dedicated to creating a Culture of Health. Follow the award on Twitter (@RWJFSportsAward) or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rwjfsportsaward.

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.

Contact: David Cohen
Doc Wayne Youth Services
Tel. 617-458-0315
Email. [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150827/261769LOGO

SOURCE Doc Wayne Youth Services

Related Links

http://www.docwayne.org