http://www.vivenow.com/blog/ en Copyright 2009 Fri, 15 May 2009 09:32:58 -0700 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss We have been working to keep the blog and twitter page highlighting interesting and thought provoking articles about parenthood, teenagers and self-exploration. But we want you to participate! http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/05/we-want-you-to-participate.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/05/we-want-you-to-participate.html Parenting Fri, 15 May 2009 09:32:58 -0700 During these stressful economic times, families still need help therapeutically and financially and Vive is responding by offering a solution. Vive will work with families in conjunction with referring professionals to design the most cost-effective solution for adolescents or young adults and their families; in our regions families can pay as little as $1700 for early intervention and aftercare services. http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/03/vive-services-are-delivered-th.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/03/vive-services-are-delivered-th.html Referral News Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:11:13 -0700 Michael Behmer sat down with Isabelle Tierney to learn more about the Body Beloved philosophy, a philosophy developed by Isabelle. Over the next 10 months, we'll be talking with Isabelle about how to break bad habits through the Body Beloved model as a follow-up to this month's introductory interview. http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/02/the-body-beloved.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/02/the-body-beloved.html Relationships Sat, 14 Feb 2009 10:58:19 -0700 A few weeks ago I was blessed to be able to participates in Pinnacle School's Parent Workshop Weekend as a presenter and attend the Elk River Wilderness graduation ceremony. It was a moving experience to witness the seven young men stand in their authenticity and their vulnerability as they communicated their gratitude to their parents and the staff. There were no hardened defenses present, only angelic faces glowing with their success and heartfelt in their expression. I certainly wished I had remembered to bring my Kleenex. http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/02/a-few-weeks-ago-i-was-blessed.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/02/a-few-weeks-ago-i-was-blessed.html Therapuetic Tools Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:53:37 -0700 Vive continually strives to improve its services and work to help families and individuals in need. As a company, we follow a Japanese tradition called "kaizen" to make Vive the best possible company. A Japanese tradition now used internationally, kaizen is literally translated "to become good through change." The basic concept of kaizen is one of restructuring and organizing every aspect of a system to ensure it remains at peak efficiency. http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/01/what-is-kaizen.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2009/01/what-is-kaizen.html Referral News Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:11:40 -0700 It has become clear that many of us in our profession believe strongly in aftercare and supporting the whole family through the various transitions our families' experience. Vive has been asked by many professionals to bring more awareness and education to the importance of aftercare programming. In order to facilitate a discussion regarding transitions and aftercare, we will use this blog site to assist in the dialogue. We invite you to join, share your perspective, and be part of the conversation on transitions and aftercare. http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/03/aftercare-not-an-after-thought.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/03/aftercare-not-an-after-thought.html Industry Trends Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:47:33 -0700 your job as a parent--to provide safety for your child. Be assured that secret languages are nothing new. Ememberay igpay atinlay? The web and phone technology, however, allow for a very powerful type of secret networking that can be hazardous for young people who are easily influenced, or who are drawn to high risk behaviors. The following link to an article by ABC News offers a balanced look at teen code, along with some practical resources for parents. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2820582&page=1 ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/secret-languages-of-teens.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/secret-languages-of-teens.html Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:33:54 -0700 Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States and it has been around as early as 10,000 BC per newscientist.com. The main active chemical in marijuana is THC. Marijuana is a mixture of dried leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa, a hemp plant. There are hundreds of slang terms for this drug including "pot," "herb," "weed," "boom," "Mary Jane," "gangster," and "chronic." It is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or bong. In recent years, it has appeared in blunts. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug, such as crack. Some users also mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew tea. The short-term effect of marijuana use include: problems with memory and learning, distorted perceptions, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, loss of coordination, increased heart rate and anxiety. Smoking five joints a week is equivalent to smoking a whole pack of cigarettes a day which leads to lung and respiratory problems, wheezing, chest cold and a bad cough. Long-term use can increase the chances of tissue damage and lung cancer and also causes changes in the brain similar to those caused by heroin and cocaine. Several studies have linked marijuana with poor school performance. It is harder to concentrate and retain information when a person is smoking marijuana. 60% of teenagers in drug treatment programs are there because of marijuana. Marijuana itself does not lead a person to take other drugs; people take drugs to get rid of unwanted situations or feelings. The drug only masks the problem for a while. When the high fades the problem or unwanted situation returns, more intense. This is the reason why people turn to stronger drugs to hide from their problems. Marijuana, under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), is classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision. Between October 2004 and January 2005, there were 1,777 Federal offenders sentenced for marijuana-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 94.9% of the cases involved marijuana trafficking. Between January 2005 and September 2005, there were 4,396 Federal offenders sentenced for marijuana-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 95.8% of the cases involved trafficking. If you would like to learn more about the true facts of marijuana please log on to stopaddiction.com I hope you find these true facts provided by Narconon as helpful as I do. Be well, Michael Behmer MA, MFT Vive, Inc. ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/the-real-411-on-marijuana.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/the-real-411-on-marijuana.html Drug Abuse Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:08:08 -0700 My brother in law, Wayne, is a busy newspaperman living in Alabama on a diet consisting of a little too much barbeque, casserole, and other southern delicacies. Having lived in the South myself, I know how irresistible, and decadent, southern comfort food can be. Wayne also has a weakness for excellent wine and is the doting father of a three year old and a newborn. The result of all of these blessings is a happy man with a large belly. Underneath his 50 extra pounds, there's a solid athlete dying to come out. Despite several remarkable attempts to overcome his circumstances and revolutionize his lifestyle, Wayne has been frustrated in his efforts to sustain change. Case in point--while we spent the week together with our respective wives' family in a cabin in Arkansas, Wayne would charge out the door for a run, coming back two hours later sweaty and grinning. The next day, he wasn't even sore. I've seen him do this before, most notably on previous Christmases in anticipation of the New Year and its opportunity--and pressure--to start anew. But despite, or maybe because of, Wayne's uncanny physical and mental ability to go from zero to sixty instantly, his efforts at change have tended to be short lived. He's supercharged and impatient. Not an unusual combination among achievers, but one that has a double edge. We discussed Wayne's frustration and his desire to finally get, and stay, in shape. "Man, I tell you, Will, it is tough," Wayne confessed. "Every night, because of our visibility in the community, we get offers of free dinners, and it's all so good. We're so busy with the paper and the kids, that it's tough to resist these offers and equally tough to keep to a fitness plan." So he tries, all at once, to overcome his circumstances, but after a short while of two-hour runs or suddenly ascetic dieting, he's back to more familiar ways. Wayne's difficulty sustaining change is not due to weakness of discipline or lack of desire; he's just employing an approach that, given his circumstances, is not effective. Brain science has uncovered some of why our best efforts at personal transformation fail. Sudden changes of habit trigger a fight or flight response in us that is tough to conquer. So when Wayne, with great resolve, changes his physical behavior or his diet, his brain says, "whoa, fella, not so fast. I'm comfortable where I am and all this change is scaring me." The result is anxiety, which can manifest as fatigue, avoidance, and failure. So Wayne and I are working together to construct a fitness plan that employs the Kaizen Approach (see previous blog entry) to change. The Kaizen Approach--a Japanese adaptation of W. Edwards Deming's Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) method--approaches large changes a little at a time, employing constant micro-efforts. Kaizen has been traditionally applied to corporations seeking to improve efficiency, but has recently been applied with great success to human behavior. Constant micro steps toward change tricks the amygdala into thinking that the change you're after is no big deal, so the fight or flight anxiety response is circumvented. The result is a much easier and more sustainable path to change. Wayne will be writing a column on his Kaizen-style progress in his newspaper, which I'll link to in this blog. So we'll get to see how well the Kaizen Approach works! Here are a few of the building blocks we're starting with for his tortoise-styled quest for fitness: • I had Wayne pick an ambitious, but achievable goal...a goal that makes him a little nervous to keep him inspired and motivated! o SELECTED GOAL: Run his first marathon in April • I had Wayne break his goal into three possible outcomes: Bronze, Silver and Gold, so that there is flexibility, not rigidity, in his ambition. o Bronze: goal that, with solid work, is well within Wayne's reach (banning sickness or injury).  BRONZE GOAL: finish o Silver: a solid stretch goal--something can achieve if his training is solid and his race day performance is strong.  SILVER GOAL: undetermined o Gold: a goal that would involve his best training, the achievement of all of his training benchmarks, and his best race day performance, plus a little luck  GOLD GOAL: undetermined • We will break Wayne's work down into daily micro-tasks...change will happen a little bit every day. My job at first will be to hold Wayne back! • We will introduce areas of change one at a time. For now, Wayne gets to eat and drink as he normally does. We're focused right now only on introducing regular, moderate exercise. Diet can wait until exercise has become a comfortable fact of life. Too many changes at once will freak out the amygdala! The Kaizen Approach to change has been shown to work in lots of personal areas--exercise, addictions, diet, etc.--that people often find hard to change despite (or because of) an intense desire to do so. I'll upload the articles on Wayne's progress as they are published so that you can see Kaizen in action! http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/slow-and-steady.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2008/01/slow-and-steady.html Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:02:44 -0700 Here's an article I wrote a year ago and am recycling. I'll be posting a followup to it later this week where we'll follow someone who is trying to implement a Kaizan Approach to change in his life this year. We'll see how it works! If you have ever poured your mind, body and soul into creating and implementing New Year's resolutions, chances are good you won't be doing that again soon. New Year's resolutions are more notorious for producing frustration than personal growth; because of this, many therapists suggest alternate methods for moving to higher ground. "My advice regarding New Year's resolutions," says Judith Brodie, a Denver, Colorado based therapist, and a parent coach, "is to not make them!" In her work at Vive!, Inc., a Boulder, Colorado-based company that helps families struggling with a troubled teen, Brodie has worked with countless parents who were desperate to make changes, but exasperated by failed attempts. Despite Brodie's dismissive approach toward resolutions, she is a champion of process-oriented personal growth. "I'm a proponent of process," says Brodie, "of figuring out what we're ready for, what we want, what we need, and then taking small steady steps in that direction. Jumps, dives, and resolutions, in my experience, are hard for people to sustain." Psychologist Robert Maurer, a professor in UCLA's Family Medicine Department, agrees with Brodie. "The average American makes the same New Year's resolution seven years in row before giving up," he says, "this is hardly a practical solution to us wanting to better our lives." In his new book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life, Maurer applies the Japanese corporate philosophy of Kaizen--or continuous improvement through micro changes--to therapeutic healing. Instead of creating frustration and failure by attempting immediate large-scale change, Maurer suggests easing into change. "My suggestion is to take an area of life you'd like to improve and identify an activity in that area you'd like to be doing. Engage in this activity for just one minute a day, four, five or six days per week to start." In One Small Step Can Change Your Life, Maurer tells the story of a patient who had failed repeatedly at her attempts to stick with an exercise program. Her resistance to exercise was so great that he had her just stand on her treadmill for a minute a day where she would drink her first cup of coffee and read the paper. Before long, Maurer reports, standing led to walking a little and walking a little led to walking more and more. Small steps, Maurer contends, circumnavigate our natural, neurologically based resistance to radical change, clearing the path for a process of incremental, often life changing, improvement. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," Maurer reminds us, "and research suggests that those steps need to be as small as possible to make the giant leaps we all want in our lives." Drew Krafcik, a therapist for Vive! Inc., suggests that there is some preliminary work to be done before we even select these areas of incremental change. "Understanding why we choose to make a New Year's resolution is much more important than the resolution itself. If we don't fully understand why we've started something, how could we expect to understand why we might quit?" Krafcik suggests starting with a broad view of what we want to change in our lives and becoming clear about our motives, visions, and fears before engaging in the change process. So this New Year, it might be good to stick to one resolution: "no resolutions!" Instead, come up with a New Year's vision--a broad-stroke image of what you want your life to look like over the next few years. Revisit this vision frequently or post it in a highly visible location, like over your desk, and use it as a rubric to evaluate all the small, even miniscule, decisions you make on a daily and weekly basis. Constantly ask, "is this small decision leading me toward, or away from, my vision of who I want to become?" You can also focus in on one or two specific activities that support this personal vision and fold one minute's worth of that activity into your schedule several days each week. This one minute might be the start of your own thousand mile journey as one minute becomes two minutes, then three minutes, then thirty minutes over time. This "Kaizen" approach to change combines the benefits of small, manageable steps with the benefits of accumulated effect. By committing to small but continuous change this year, you may be able to achieve a great deal while avoiding the dicey, often discouraging, routine of New Year's resolutions. ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/new-years-resolution-1-no-more-1.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/new-years-resolution-1-no-more-1.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:06:42 -0700 Thanks for the comment, Dustin, and for the amazing story. It's neat to get such important lessons from such unexpected sources. Have a great NY! http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/thanks-for-the-comment-dustin.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/thanks-for-the-comment-dustin.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:02:24 -0700 Current Directions in Psychological Science, found that human memory attaches much more strongly to negative events than to positive ones. Some scientists attribute this to a survival function--if we remember events that were dangerous or difficult, we are more likely to work to avoid them in the future. What strikes me about that research, however, is that it implies we're not wired to be thankful. Whether that's a spiritual, attitudinal, or neurological condition, I don't know. I do know, however, that it's true of me. It's much easier to remember bad stuff and, therefore, to fixate on how to avoid it in the present. So while pessimism may have helped cave men survive attacks from the brontosaurus rex (I don't want to tangle with one of THOSE again!), it definitely does not help us thrive emotionally, socially, or spiritually. That dirty jobless near-frozen homeless man was, in the moment I caught a glimpse of him, thriving. Thankfulness, for most of us, requires some discipline. We have to stop and consciously catalogue the things we have to be thankful for--i.e. count our blessings--in order to realize the paradise we occupy. Most major religious disciplines account for this by making formal thanksgiving a part of their liturgy or ceremony. Some countries have a day set aside to focus on being thankful; the UN set aside a whole year of thanksgiving (2000)...remember? Neither do I. People that we are, we don't naturally wake up fully aware of all we have to be thankful for and move through our days in a bliss of thanksgiving. My dog does, but I don't. I'm a spoiled man. We're a spoiled generation, and so is the one we're raising. Our kids are drowning in abundance. They're shut down and so busy and stressed managing their abundance that they don't enjoy much of it. "Affluenza," is the popular term used by psychologists, and ironic UTube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI), to describe this epidemic of teen culture. We needn't be ashamed of abundance as long as we are mindful of it and thankful for it. Our gift to our kids can be to model thankfulness; to pause and actually say out loud what you're thankful for--the little things and the big things. It's not something that's natural, but it's something that can make the difference between being selfish or generous, stressed or relaxed, stingy or generous, miserable or blissfully content. Common sense tells us this, and current research on the relationship between gratitude and well-being confirms it. So this holiday season, remember my freezing jobless dirty homeless friend who found the world in a cup of joe and, in so doing, gave me my best Christmas gift this year. Thanks. ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/the-world-in-a-cup-of-joe.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/the-world-in-a-cup-of-joe.html Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:06:14 -0700 Do you have a story of a deficit turned to advantage? I'd love to hear any stories you care to share, whether your own or that of a student, child, or friend. Please post your comments to this site, but remember to use other's stories only with their permission and or with their identity masked. ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/the-other-edge.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/the-other-edge.html Clinical Professional Growth Education Parenting Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:32:13 -0700 protein diet. "Dude, step AWAY from the GRANOLA! What you need is protein; carbs are bunk. Protein makes muscle and fuel and burns fat. Magic." It's one thing to chase dietary fads based on the latest research--something I've finally stopped doing--and another to chase parenting, treatment, or medication fads based on the latest therapeutic research. The former might make you faster or slower, stronger or weaker; the latter might make you sicker, or kill you (or your patient or loved one). Practitioners, programs, and parents who attempt to quickly implement new strategies based on emergent research do well to review the fundamentals of the scientific method they learned in grade school. Observation, hypothesis, experimentation, theory, test test test test test the theory. We forget that most good research yields (or bunks) theories, not facts. Interestingly, all of the "ologies--" pathology, etiology, etc. are based on the greek word logos which means (among other things) dialogue, but we often treat these ologies as if the conversation is over, as if they involve mostly stable facts. Facts take a helluva long time to emerge from the womb of theory, though...and most are born still. Theories are, according to classical scientific discipline, things to be rolled over and poked and kicked and fought and refuted...either to death or to further life. Those things that survive these merciless scientific beatings and prove reliable over time eventually take on the honorific title of "fact." In our eagerness as a consumer culture to "apply" the immediate fruits of research (i.e. very young and barely tested theories), we jump to conclusions quickly, implementing drugs, techniques, and approaches that have really only made it through the first few hoops of the scientific process. This can be counter productive or even dangerous. As someone who designs and implements programs for struggling youth, I have learned to rely primarily on balanced approaches that make intuitive sense. I also tend to favor dialogue ("ology") over discovery (young, unvetted theory) as I make design choices. I take a deep breath when I see new research in order to avoid jumping prematurely on the bandwagon of implementation. I adopt novel approaches slowly and with caution, and keep a foundation of fundamentals that are not the least bit sexy, new, or controversial. Kids, all kids, respond to love, connection, structure, play, consistency, clarity, humor, and truthfulness. These are some of the ingredients I learned to arrange and balance in my first job as an unsophisticated front-line childcare worker at Eastfield Ming-Quong--one of the oldest effective therapeutic programs in the country. I've learned lots of other things since, but these fundamentals are the only things I never question. Love, connection, structure, play, consistency, clarity, humor, and truthfulness are a few of those foundational elements that are guaranteed to nourish any child (or adult) in need of healing, as well as those in pretty good shape. The former, it seems, just need a super-concentrated dose. And the great thing is there's no risk of overdose! So regardless of the latest theory regarding the etiology and treatment of adolescent pathology, every parent and practitioner does well to honor the fundamentals... ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/remember-the-fundamentals.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/12/remember-the-fundamentals.html Clinical Professional Growth Clinical Trends Education Family Industry Practice Industry Trends Nutrition Parenting Therapuetic Tools Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:23:52 -0700 Vive! Brochure Vive! Services To talk to a live person 24/7 call 800-261-0127 ]]> http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/10/believing-you-can.html http://www.vivenow.com/blog/2007/10/believing-you-can.html Relationships Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:57:26 -0700