Alexandra Alfaro, M.S., doctoral student the Department of Family Therapy (DFT) in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), was featured as a therapist in the new HBO Documentary Rock and a Hard Place. Inspired by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s own experiences with the law as a youth, Rock and a Hard Place captures the lives of incarcerated young people who are granted a second chance through a one-of-a-kind boot camp program. Alfaro served as a therapist intern at New Directions Behavioral Health, a Department of Family Therapy internship placement site.
“I interned at New Directions Behavioral Health and while I was there, they asked if I could spend one day a week at Theodore Guilford Knight (TGK) correctional center,” Alfaro said. “I worked with the DUI coordinator the first half of the day, then went on to run a substance abuse class at the boot camp. It’s is designed to give kids who are facing a heavy sentence a second chance – they experience very heavy mental and physical discipline throughout the program, as correctional officers push them to their limits.”
Alfaro said that upon completion of the program, the judge re-evaluates their sentence based on their progress and completion of the Boot Camp. Many of the youth are able to rejoin their communities as productive citizens, after being faced with the possibility of decades of prison sentences.
“It was a very eye-opening experience, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity!”