In 2004 Tomas Alvarez, a social worker and founder of BRL, pioneered a Rap Therapy Program, which utilized the process of creating Rap Music to promote behavioral health among at-risk teens who were resistant to more traditional forms of therapy. Since it’s creation, the BRL Rap Therapy Group has served some of the Bay Area’s most difficult to engage youth, it has been the focus of two empirical studies, and is currently the subject of a feature film set to premier internationally in 2010. The BRL Rap Therapy Group has been recognized as one of the first models of its kind, and continues to set the standard for therapeutically-based hip hop groups in the field of mental health.