Vive! Philosophy

This is not an easy time to be a teenager; it is not an easy time to be a family. Now more than ever, the transition from adolescence to young adulthood is fraught with hazards and obstacles that can undermine a young person's movement into his or her future. The health of our families and our communities depends upon our ability to equip young people to make this transition safely and successfully. Vive!'s mission is to help families meet this challenge. The Vive! philosophy is based upon a set of principles which serves as the foundation for our unique therapeutic model.

The family as an ecosystem

The intimate linkage of family members as parts of a single organism makes it impossible for any one family member to change without impacting the whole family and all of its members. Like most organisms, families tend to dislike disruption; they resist change-even positive change. This means that an adolescent (or any family member) who strives to grow and improve significantly is likely to encounter resistance from the family, making that growth difficult or impossible. This resistance is usually unconscious and so habitual to family members that it can be tough to even detect, making it very difficult to address.

The best way to effect successful and sustainable change in an individual, then, is to engage the whole organism-all family members-in a coordinated change process. Vive! therapists seek to make family members conscious of how they inadvertently resist change. Armed with this awareness, individual family members can break old habits of relating that impede growth and replace them with new habits that foster positive change for the whole family.

A coordinated healing process

Just as a variety of factors contribute to behavioral issues in teens and young adults, a multi-faceted approach is often required to solve those problems. It is not simply a matter of "fixing" the child. Vive!'s therapeutic model requires involvement from parents and benefits from collaboration with other healing programs and professionals. Vive! works closely with educational consultants, counselors, therapists and therapeutic programs to ensure an effective, coordinated healing process.

Empower the parents

Vive! believes that parents hold many of the keys that will lead to the restoration of their child's health, so direct parent involvement is a crucial component of Vive!'s therapeutic model. The Vive! program includes extensive coaching and support for parents to ensure more rapid, sustainable healing.

Action therapy in the real World

The real benefits of therapy take root when the child and family put new tools and lessons into action. Processing feelings and thinking through situations is a critical part of any therapeutic process; it is what yields the tools necessary to effect personal change. Putting these tools into action in real life situations, however, is what really makes change happen. Experience solidifies lessons and demonstrates the consequences of choosing one path over another. Vive! therapy encourages teens and young adults to take healthy risks, make real decisions and experience the true consequences of those decisions.

Who does Vive! serve?
Learn about the Vive! program
Why the Vive! program is so effective
What is the 'Crisis Continuum'?