July 2025 Newsletter

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~Wayne Dyer

Editorial 

Dear Dawn to Dusk Community,

June 27th was our Q2 2025 training day. Our training days are held once every quarter, typically on the 4th Friday of the quarterly months of March, June, September and December. The program is closed for our participants and it is our day of learning and teambuilding. The topics covered on this training day included organizational updates and reminders and group discussions on Prevention of Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation based on true stories. These stories were published by Northjersey.com in a series of investigative articles. Group discussions were led by our leadership team and all teammates actively participated and brainstormed on how they would have handled many of the situations differently and how they could have been prevented. It is clear from these articles that much work remains to be done to provide the necessary care and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. With positive intentions combined with hard work and commitment, improvements can be made to address the systemic flaws and drawbacks in the current system.

Organizational updates included changes to our organizational structure to create more synergies and accountability. Below are some of the highlights of the changes:

• Expanding the role of the Program Coordinator to include DSP supervision, creating a lead Program Coordinator and two additional Program Coordinators. Melanie Bisaha is our Program Coordinator Lead and Maria Vivas Rojas and Gardy Marius are our newly promoted Program Coordinators.

• Creation of the Department of Clinical Management which will include Behavior Support, Nursing and Healthcare and Quality Assurance and Compliance. Our BCBA, Jayshree Krishnaswamy is the head of this new department.

• Creation of an Activities Coordination role and an Employment Training Coordination Role led by Monica Aguilar, who recently obtained her Job Coach certification from the Rutgers Boggs Center.

In the afternoon, our Activities Director, Maureen went over our Lunch Outings process and how to make it easier to manage our petty cash and participant bank tracking system.  This was followed by completion of mandatory online training courses for all our staff. 

Our theme for this training day was Perspective- when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. I kicked off the training by presenting this video from Dr. Wayne Dyer, which I believe is a powerful reminder for all of us to look within and be the change that we want to see in the world.

~Sesh Subramanian

Life Skills and Growing Independence

In June, the participants revisited the household chore task of cleaning the windows within the center. Each team was assigned a section of windows within the program center to clean using spray bottles and rags. The participants then worked together with each other and their staff to design summer themed windows scapes. Some teams were inspired by the flowers in our garden, while others seemed to relish the sunshine and created sunny and bright outdoor scenes. Other teams decided to paint beach themed images and ocean life on their windows. It is wonderful to see the participants increasing familiarity with these tasks, as we are always looking to help grow independent living skills through fun and engaging activities and tasks. 

Self Expression Through Creativity

In June, the Dawn to Dusk participants exercised their creativity by decorating pennant flags in celebration of Flag Day (6/14) and Juneteenth (6/19). The participants learned about the history of the different flags and why they are important to history and to people today, as well as looked at the colors and symbols employed to design the flags we are so familiar with today. The participants were then given the opportunity to create their own pennant flags, and were encouraged to include symbolism that felt important to them. Many participants employed different stencils and tracing tools, while others chose to freehand draw their flag designs. The pennant flags are currently on display in the auditorium of our center, displaying the unique creative choices of each participant and showing the fabric of our beautiful and diverse Dawn to Dusk community. 

Physical and Mental Health and Wellbeing

In June, our daily exercise sessions introduced some fun drumming and dancing patterns and routines into the sessions, adding more opportunities for sensory integration and engagement, as well as additional body movements to reinforce coordination and balance! The participants enjoyed listening to the song and following along to the movements as they learned more and more of the drumming and movement routine through the month. We are always excited to introduce new opportunities for movement, engagement and integration of skills during our activities, and who doesn’t love a fun dance routine with friends? The Dawn to Dusk participants will be moving and grooving all summer long! 

Leisure and Recreation

This month, the Dawn to Dusk Nature Club and STEM activity sessions partnered up to explore the wonderful world of butterflies, specifically monarch butterflies! The participants learned about the lifecycle of a butterfly, the type of plants they like to eat and live in, and how important they are in helping pollinate the plants growing outside. To bring this lesson into reality, the participants were invited to observe real monarch caterpillars as they ate and ate (and ate, and ate more) before climbing up to the highest point of the enclosure to spin their chrysalis. Observing the behavior of the caterpillars helped illustrate all that the participants had been learning about in the activity sessions, and then watching each butterfly emerge from the chrysalis as a fully formed monarch butterfly was very exciting. Once the butterflies had all emerged from their slumber and had a few days to stretch and flex their wings, it was time to set them free. The participants joined with the activity staff to release our butterfly friends in our garden, saying goodbyes and wishing the butterflies well on their summer journey!

Community Corner

Community Outings: 

In June, Dawn to Dusk participants embraced a vibrant mix of outdoor exploration and creative community experiences, despite some especially hot days. Teams enjoyed scenic outings to Helmetta Park, Jamesburg Park, Morris Davison Park, and Timothy’s Center for Gardening, where they selected a variety of flowers for our garden while staying within a set budget. On the hottest days, we opted for the air-conditioned mall, ensuring that all outings remained safe, enjoyable, and accessible. 

Lunch Outings:

June also brought delicious and engaging lunch outings that supported life skill development and social interaction. Teams dined at a range of spots, including CAVA, Monmouth Junction Diner, Chipotle, and Capriccio’s Pizzeria. For team choice outings, some selected crowd pleasers like Chili’s and Olive Garden. These experiences gave participants the opportunity ot practice independence through ordering, budgeting, and dining etiquette.

Special Events:

The Dawn to Dusk Anniversary Picnic was held on Wednesday, June 4th, as the rain finally decided to give way to a beautiful, sunny day spent at Thompson Park in Monroe, NJ! The participants enjoyed basketball, badminton, frisbee and toss-catch games, bubbles and coloring, nature walks, cornhole, hula-hoop tricks, and much more before meeting at the pavilion for their picnic lunch. After numerous postponements due to weather, it was wonderful to finally be able to host this picnic event, our largest annual picnic to date, with the entire Dawn to Dusk program at the park, and to have the day be so full of sunshine and smiles was very special to us all! 

If you have any questions or suggestions about the Day Program, please contact Emily at: emily@dawntoduskwellbeing.com          

Photo Gallery

Enjoy some special moments and smiles in our photo gallery here.