Parents who engage our services are usually looking for one main thing. They love and care for their children and want to see their son or daughter make positive changes and keep those positive changes when they go home. This is the organization's number one priority. Everything we do at Venture Academy points back to helping troubled teens make and sustain those positive changes. It's more than a mission statement, to us it's our purpose.
Venture Academy specializes in the delivery of services for troubled teens. Working with troubled teens with significant behavioural challenges is a very complicated process requiring a principled approach to service delivery.
At Venture Academy, our approach is attachment-based, solution oriented and holistic in nature. Programs are designed to invite positive change, build skills and focus on solutions and redevelop family attachments. The approach not only moves away from pathology, but moves towards a health, wellness and strengths orientation. Solution-focussed interventions seek solutions, are present and future oriented, and focus on what works in terms of client abilities. Goals and plans are aimed at supporting teens and families in overcoming struggles and developing and maintaining healthy lifestyles and relationships.
Venture Academy uses a number of strategies to bring about positive behavioural changes for youth in our program with the chosen strategies applicable to the youth's level of motivation (we help with that), cognitive functioning and developmental capacity.
The foundation of our approach centers around family reintegration and attachment between parents and their children as applicable. We ascribe to the belief that children want to do well and the attachment relationship between parents and their children is key in this regard. After behavioural stabilization is reached in our residential setting, largely through relationship building with our own staff, Venture Academy assists parents and youth in our program in making their relationship the priority. We support parents to "parent with confidence" - to parent with attachment in mind. This is achieved through "Attachment Plans" and ongoing family support from the Venture Academy Clinical Team.
Specialized treatment approaches are integrated into our treatment planning with our clients and are utilized to promote positive change within our program, within the community and with family. These approaches include: Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Transtheoretical Model of Change (therapist tasks), Collaborative Problem Solving, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, and Executive Function management strategies. Other select approaches and modalities may also be implemented by the client's therapist for identified clients in conjunction with consultation with the rest of the clinical team. Positive therapeutic rapport building with supportive and professional boundaries, and a youth friendly approach to recreation and activities of interest is also implemented. The organization employs practical and clinically proven approaches to behaviour management and positive behaviour change.
While Venture Academy serves troubled teens from across Canada whom may appear to have similar reasons for admission, (parent-teen conflict, problems at school, clinically diagnosed disorders, substance abuse issues etc.) it is important to note that each young person comes to us as a unique individual. Personality, family circumstances and even their own physiology, make each youth we serve one-of-a-kind. Our assessment processes help determine how each young person is unique and our individualized therapeutic treatment plans and approaches with families reflect that individuality to addresses each young person's and family's specific needs. Yes we have our established operational methods, but there is no "one size fits all" with our clients. With Venture Academy our approach is custom tailored to fit each client's unique requirements and circumstances.