"He needed to cry and for no one to judge him..."

Alejandra Sanchez Mares, Coordinator at the Puerto Rican Association for Human Development in Perth Amboy, NJ, pictured above in the middle of the group photo, brings great enthusiasm and joy to her sessions, however occasionally a story she reads and discusses with the group will spark sorrow in one of the listeners.

"A man said that he was very sad because of something that had happened in his family and that he could not find the energy to get up every morning or to be happy," Ale recounted recently. "Another participant, a woman, told him that she, more than anyone else, knew what it was like to live through a tragedy and that she had gotten through it thanks to the group."

The woman asked the man's wife's permission to come closer and hug him. "The wife told her to go ahead, and she hugged that man, the man started to cry and said, this is what he needs, to cry and for no one to judge him for doing it," Ale shared in her final report for the PRAHD program.

Ale said the entire group convinced the man to continue attending the program because it would "motivate him and that little by little he would feel better."

That man is in the group photo, receiving his certificate at the Week 8 celebration.