Why the Vive approach works
The Vive Approach, how we deliver support, is profoundly different than traditional therapeutic models and from visiting a therapists office. And it works. The Vive Approach is trust based, systemic, holistic, and experiential.
Trust Based
As part of the Vive Approach, our dual approach pairs a young person with a mentor and parent(s) with a separate parent coach. This ensures the highest degree of trust and therapeutic traction for both parties, since each has a dedicated, confidential resource. Our dual approach safeguards the boundaries of each party's therapeutic relationship, increasing the capacity for trust. Trust creates a sense of safety, and feelings of safety allow influential relationships to develop, which in turn drive growth and healing.
In addition, because of the trust in the dual approach, while the mentor supports the teen, parents feel a new freedom to do their own work with a parent coach, opening the door to a new relationship with their teen.
Systemic
Every family is a system with its own unique set of spoken and unspoken rules, agreements, habits, communication styles, and inter-connections. Because family systems, like all ecosystems, seek equilibrium, it's tough, if not impossible, to change a part without changing the whole. The Vive Approach works with the whole family system to help reformulate old ways of interacting so that the family supports, rather than impedes, positive changes made by individual family members. With Vive's systemic approach, lasting change is possible even for families who have felt stuck in old negative patterns.
Holistic
Just as each family member impacts every other family member, so each facet of daily life impacts every other. Diet impacts sleep. Sleep impacts mood. Mood impacts weight. Weight impacts self-image. Self-image impacts behavior. Behavior impacts relationships, and so on. In order to effect lasting change, Vive mentors and parent coaches look at all aspects of life that are likely to impact the health of the individual and the family, including exercise, diet, medication, social affiliations, mood, and life-work-play balance. In addition to addressing the presenting problem (which is often a symptom, rather than a cause), we help families assess and build assets in all areas of life that will improve overall health and well-being.
Experiential
Social, emotional, and life skills learned in therapy must be applied in a real world, real life environment to really "stick." Ideally, this critical phase of the growth process is actively guided and well-supported in the teen's home community. As part of the Vive Approach, support is experiential, encouraging healthy risk-taking while maximizing safety and learning. Much like a gymnastics spotter, Vive parent coaches and mentors provide intensive, hands-on supervision and guidance in the real world, backing off incrementally as skills are mastered and confidence increases.
