Jessi Irvin Joins Aspiro Group

For Immediate Release
March 24, 2009


(Mount Pleasant, UT) Aspiro is pleased to announce the hiring of Jessi Irvin as a therapist in our unique Wilderness Adventure Therapy (WAT) model.

Our management team is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such a respected, outstanding therapist, said Brian Church, Vice President, Business Development.

"Jessi will play a major role in our continued growth as a program, and is a wonderful addition to our clinical team."

"I felt very connected to and welcomed by everyone I met there," said Irvin. "I love the adventure component as a means for challenging kids to look at their patterns, while giving them an opportunity to increase their confidence and push themselves outside of their comfort zone. I'm excited to interact w/ students and share in their adventures. I like the structure, coupled with the flexibility in my role as a therapist to coordinate a student's program based on their needs and those of their family. I'm also excited about the strong parent involvement, which I've so come to appreciate in my work at Three Rivers Montana. It's important to have the support of parents while their kids are away and also necessary, I believe, to have them involved in doing their own work and work as a family if there is to be true, lasting change."

"I worked at Three Rivers for nearly three years and have loved working with kids and families in the wilderness," said Irvin. "I feel very comfortable in that role, along with the expectations related to working with consultants and attending conferences. I enjoy the opportunity to network and meet people face-to-face, since so much work is done over the phone. There's an intimacy that comes with this work we do in this industry that really fits for me. I've also maintained a very small private practice while at Three Rivers and have enjoyed working with adolescents and young adults in transition. Prior to working at Three Rivers, I was a therapist at a few local, community-based counseling clinics. While there, I worked with a broad spectrum of clients, including families, adults, couples, young children and adolescents facing a wide variety of challenges."

Jessi will be moving to Utah, from Montana, over the next month, and will begin taking on a case load the first week of May. Please join us in welcoming Jessi to Aspiro.

Business Office: (801) 349-2740 | Toll Free - 888-266-5136

Has your troubled teen recently changed to a negative peer group?

Are they struggling with issues of depression, alcohol and drug abuse, or low self-esteem?

Aspiro can help.

Aspiro's solution-oriented, wilderness adventure therapy program works. We blend the best of adventure with effective and proven therapeutic processes.

Your troubled teen experiences the highest standards of safety and therapy in one of the most beautiful and powerful settings for real change.

Aspiro engages students in character development as well as working to resolve family and personal issues and preparing each student for the next best step.

Does your troubled teen need Aspiro? Read our student profile and then give us a call at 888-266-5136.

Aspiro serves young men and women ages 13 to 17 and young adults' ages 18 to 30 years old.

Please call to see if Aspiro is an appropriate program for your troubled teen or young adult.

Aspiro 1-888- 266-5136 or (801) 349-2740

A Shifting Paradigm

By: Josh Watson, LMSW

“Change” seems to be the nation’s mantra as we welcome a new year with open arms. We are a nation that is constantly evolving based on several factors associated with things like technology, environment, family dynamics, disease, political decisions, and economic conditions. These are obviously just a few examples of issues that trigger change and require adaptation on more of a global scale. However, as a therapist in the private treatment sector I must not ignore best practice methods that are consistently changing to meet the needs of struggling teens and families.

More specifically, I am a therapist by trade, but I am also a minority owner and Director of Admissions for the Aspiro Group of Programs. Aspiro is a very innovative and clinically sophisticated, outdoor program that provides a strong emphasis on adventure therapy to targeted groups of adolescents and young adults. One of the primary reasons we created Aspiro was to address the ongoing needs that are constantly changing for teens and families. These needs are a direct reflection of the issues we deal with on a global scale that I made reference to earlier. One of our mantras at Aspiro has been to “think outside of the box.”

This is not only something our staff does internally, we also teach our students and families to do the same thing. Rigid thinking patterns often create frustration and power struggles, even between individuals that care for each other.

Traditional outdoor treatment programs or “wilderness programs” have been around for many years.

Focusing on primitive living skills, behavioral modification, and self-reflection, these programs have been successful in changing the individual behavior of adolescents. However, at Aspiro, we do not believe that is good enough to address the issues we face in today’s society. When Aspiro was created over three years ago it was determined that new treatment modalities needed to be implemented to not only address the individual student behavior, but also the behavior of the entire family system. In essence, a paradigm shift was created in the private sector of outdoor treatment programs. Yes, I understand that families have had some interaction, primarily after eight or twelve weeks of separation from their child, in traditional outdoor programs, however, we feel it is important to consistently involve the family throughout the entire process.

At Aspiro, we also understand the value of family separation for a period of time. However, family reunification and/or relationship cohesion is the ultimate goal whenever possible. By ignoring the family system throughout the outdoor treatment process we are actually doing harm to the child. Research on family development shows that changes in family life-cycle patterns have escalated dramatically over the last decade. According to two family system’s experts, Betty Carter and Monica McGoldrick, we can attribute this family developmental change to factors such as lower birth rate, longer life expectancy, the changing role of women, very high divorce and remarriage rates, the rise of unmarried motherhood, unmarried couples, single-parent adoptions, the increased visibility of gay and lesbian couples and families, and the increase in two paycheck marriages to the point where they are the American norm. We must not ignore these changes that are occurring in families all over the country and we must address them accordingly.

This paradigm shift to increase family involvement throughout the outdoor treatment process was not met without some criticism. However, all changing paradigms are confronted with questions and concern…as they should be. The most repetitive concern that was expressed on multiple occasions was that “students will manipulate their parents into withdrawing them early from the program.”

Aspiro has served over 500 families in three years. Out of those families, only one has withdrawn their child due to manipulation prior to treatment termination. Based on ongoing success and positive feedback from families and relevant professionals, treating the whole family is necessary in today’s society. The paradigm shift has been increasingly embraced by other private programs in the outdoor treatment sector.

However many programs and treating professionals still base their approach to struggling teens on old mythological patterns of the traditional family system. Carter and McGoldrick go on to say that it is absolutely imperative that therapists and treating professionals at least recognize the extent of change and variations in the norm that are now widespread and that we help families to stop comparing their structure and life-cycle course with that of the family of the 1950’s.

While relationship patterns and family themes may continue to sound familiar, the structure, ages, stages, and culture of the American family have changed radically. It is time for us professionals to give up our attachments to the old ideals and to put a more positive, conceptual frame around what has become evident in today’s society.

Philosophy of Bouldering - The Project

One of the experiences that Aspiro provides year-round for its participants is the sport of bouldering.

Bouldering is a form of rock climbing where the athlete climbs only as high as it is safe to fall, but does not use a rope. Instead, guides and peers use gymnastic ‘spotting’ techniques and specially-designed ‘crash pads’ to keep the athletes safe. Boulderers typically climb on boulders instead of cliffs, eliminating the risk of rock fall from above, and adding the reward of being able to stand on top of the ‘conquered’ climb and rest.

Routes that boulderers climb are called ‘problems’ and usually consist of only a few (usually 6-12) moves that are much more challenging than typical rock climbing, and often much more gymnastic. Bouldering can be at once frustrating and engaging, overwhelming and peaceful, painful and comforting, social and individual.

The glory of bouldering is that the greatest experiences are intimately related to the worst experiences.

The highs depend on the lows. In bouldering, a successful climb is simply not rewarding unless it is a successful climb that was fought for. The more difficult a problem is for a boulderer, the more she must fight for the climb, and the more she fights for the climb, the greater the thrill when she stands on top of the boulder, basking in the overwhelming sensations of victory. Of course to achieve this reward, she must outlast a wilderness of despair, as she second-guesses and doubts her strength at every fall, fall after fall.

The blessing and the curse of such a sport, is that no problem is impossible, but nearly every problem is improbable. At Aspiro, we seek to engage every staff and student in the ‘Project Experience’. Boulderers of all levels, when they arrive at a new area, use guidebooks, ratings, and word of mouth to find the problems that seem most appropriate for their skill level. Much of their time is spent familiarizing themselves with the style of climbing in the area, and the relative scale of difficulty ratings. In every case, however, what the climber is really seeking is “The Project”.

The Project is the one climb that he cannot climb the first day, the first week, or even the first month. When he feels the first holds, he believes it is impossible. Yet there is a beauty to this problem- it calls out to him and invites him in. At first he tries it and it confirms to him that he will need to return another time, 3 years maybe, 5 years maybe, to climb it. It confirms to him that he is simply not strong enough, determined enough, or resilient enough to attempt it yet. Maybe later.

As he climbs other problems around it, he successfully completes the easier problems in 1, 2 or even 5 tries.

It feels good, and he is proud of himself, but still the Project calls to him. Eventually he cannot ignore it and he gives it his first real attempt. Rejection!! Further confirmation that this climb is not possible for him, he is not good enough, not ready. He is conflicted inside, he does not want to experience rejection again, but he wants to climb the project. He throws himself at the project again, despite his conflicting feelings. A cycle of enthusiastic attempts and disheartening rejections follows until finally, the climber tries the first move, and it feels different… he understands it differently.

“If I only squeeze this muscle this way, balance on my toe this way, and throw my body skyward exactly this way… perhaps it is possible,” he thinks to himself.

And then success comes. He can do the first move. Thrilled over such an accomplishment, the climber invites her friends to come watch, throws herself at the project and the project dismisses her once again.

She is finally beginning to understand the curse of a sport that seemed so fun and so relaxing just an hour ago.

No matter how much effort she puts into the first move of a problem, and even when she finally figures it out and understands it, she must still climb that first move and put all the same energy into it every time she gets on the problem, if she ever wants a chance to climb the second move. It does not become suddenly easy because you succeeded once. Likewise, it does not become suddenly harder because you have failed once.

The rock is constant, we are the ones who change. To overcome the problem, we must not change the problem without- that is never enough. We must change the problem within. The cycles of overwhelming success and victory, and crushing defeat are very normal in the sport of bouldering. As professional boulderers exist in all sizes and shapes, one can guess that external strength, height, weight, age, or natural abilities do not determine a successful climber, or how much one falls in love with the sport. It seems obvious with even a little experience, that success is determined by strength of heart, not strength of arm. It is what is inside that counts. It is the climber’s ability to accept any failure as temporary, to accept failure as little more than a stepping stone to her goals that determines whether or not she will succeed. As guides at Aspiro, we strive to make this process happen at least once for every student, staff, and visitor in the field. It is more than a hope, it is an expectation. One can watch professional climbers work projects for years before success.

This resolve is a quality that we admire at Aspiro. We hope to build a community and an environment that supports opens doors- a place where we can test our resolve and even grow it.

As staff and students at Aspiro, we share a unique season of therapy. It is a season of challenge, frustration, overwhelming accomplishment, and deep respect for each other’s struggles. It is a therapy we share.

Staff refuse to be ‘teachers’ who have all the answers that the students must absorb. Staff instead become teachers who inspire passion, craft experiences, and share burdens. We grow to love and hate bouldering as it begins to represent both our victories, and our unfinished projects.

We return with excitement and trepidation. We learn to guide each other through the experience, provide the community of support, and be the invisible force that helps each other to succeed. And of course, we all have the opportunity to see ourselves overcome, to engage in a contest that is both against ourselves and greater than ourselves, and to experience the ultimate rush, the goal of all boulderers, The Project.

Dan LeMaire

Choosing Aspiro - By Brad Carpenter, Psy.D.

Perhaps you as a parent or an educational consultant are considering the same thing. I was about a year and a half ago.

Mine is a different story, however, which began about 14 years ago at a military base in Atlanta, Georgia. This was my introduction to therapy and needed transition from an academic knowledge of psychology to reality.

My first client, a 40 year old African American woman suffering from depression, left the session somewhat exasperated and remarked that she couldn’t believe that “Donnie Osmond” was her new therapist.This was precisely when I began wearing suspenders and a tie to work every day in an effort to achieve age and credibility. My second client was a couple who came for marital therapy and promptly asked if I was married or had any children. Quick witted, I replied something to the effect that I didn’t need to be shot to know that it would hurt!

This, my valiant attempt to explain that it was not necessary to have first hand knowledge of their situation to be a good therapist, a message understandably obscured by the comparison of marriage to a mortal injury.

Needless to say, I learned to button up more than my oxford after this and listen.

My third client was a bright 15 year old girl who was seen because of oppositional behaviors and underachievement. Having problems getting her to speak I decided to join her in silence, a technique I learned from Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, not my graduate psychotherapy course.

Instead of paving the way for the dramatic break through, she yelled at me and told her parents I wouldn’t even talk in therapy. They were naturally concerned.

Almost a decade and a half later, armed with wisdom, experience and a receding hair line I was lucky enough to have a choice as to the direction of my career. Over the years I had specialized as a diagnostician, performing psychological neuropsychological assessment with a secondary role as a therapist. I was moonlighting as an adjunct professor of psychology for a local college when I was asked to teach an introductory therapy course to graduate counselors. For a while I was a back to where I started, rediscovering my roots as a therapist, joking with my students about my pop star past and preparing them for what’s to come. What I have learned over the years is that therapy is an art and while there are some who would disagree with this statement as is, they may not disagree with the assertion that adolescent therapy is an art. I could say this with some certainty after working in the therapeutic boarding industry for almost three years while contracting with an adolescent wilderness therapy program. I was particularly intrigued by the prospect of the adolescent wilderness experience and heard the buzz that some colleagues had taken this concept a step further, creating a high adventure therapy program called Aspiro.

Disillusioned by the status quo and the primitive wilderness model, I was excited to hear that the industry was evolving. Fortunately, I had many choices, but realized after a brief visit that I had found my dream job and quickly made the decision to move across country to join the group.

Aspiro has taken the successful elements of traditional wilderness therapy and raised the bar significantly.

When I refer to a “primitive” wilderness therapy model, I don’t mean to discount the effectiveness or inherent sophistication of a model which has helped countless numbers of adolescents in beginning to turn their lives around. I simply refer to an outdated traditional model in which adolescents learn basic skills (breaking a fire) while backpacking around a restricted area, sometimes far away from civilization.

Aspiro’s adventure therapy model combines the benefits of the traditional wilderness experience with overwhelming mastery experiences - climbing 200 feet off the ground, free rappelling a 150 foot arch, paddling a class 4 rapid, summiting a 13,000 foot peak, building ice caves, skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking.

And best of all, I’m right there with them.

My first therapy experience at Aspiro was paddling a 25 mile stretch with a student who had recently become involved in drugs, an intelligent young man who I had seen a hundred times before in a different setting.

It was here though, floating down the Green River that I knew I had shed my suspenders for good, in this place without walls, florescent lighting or plaques. I was no longer just an authoritarian but a participant, paddle in hand. It was in this place and many others since that I noticed the resistance I had encountered in a traditional setting was no longer there or significantly diminished. Suddenly the clients were negotiating their way through tricky situations, ones I didn’t read about in an intake report but was observing in the moment.

They were there, right before my eyes, pushing themselves, interacting with other students and all the time humbled by nature. Not only were we collaborating in therapy but together we had accomplished something significant by days end. The students were building confidence and learning real skills through mastery experiences. They were more alert and receptive from the adventure and the novelty of the environment, a benefit also shared by myself. Every week I knew that when I saw my student, he/she would have a story to tell me, a story of struggle and accomplishment. This was the same story I heard a year later from the student I shared a paddle with my first day. He had continued his adventure in Costa Rica, drug free, now a high school graduate and using the same skills he had learned a year earlier at Aspiro.

So choose wisely as I did. Every student and family situation is unique and every therapist has a different calling. I found mine here in Utah. In the past year, Aspiro bought out its parent company and is now independently owned by its therapists and the original founders who have a personal stake in its success. We have grown, refined our model and adapted to the needs of our students, families and consultants.

This is by far the coolest place I have ever worked and I appreciate all the support I have received from our staff, my students and the many parents and consultants I have worked with since joining Aspiro.

Dr. Brad Carpenter - Psy.D.