Dylan Kelley has a new school, new friends, and a new chance to reach his dreams. A Discovery student in 2007-2008, Dylan struggled with substance abuse, depression and an eating disorder.
That was then. Now he’s finishing his junior year of high school, looking for a part-time job and competing on the varsity swim team.
His mother, Jeanette Kelley, says the family has been through some rough times since Dylan’s return. “We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re learning,” she says. “We’re using the tools we learned at D.A.”
Hand surgery required Dylan leave the Academy before graduating. Jeanette says that’s a move she regrets. “If you can keep your child in the program and graduate, that’s the way to go,” she says. She wishes Dylan would have had the chance to participate in the Academy’s Honor Level where students are allowed to work in the community while they complete therapeutic and academic work at the Academy.
But she’s grateful for the progress Dylan made during his stay. “The Academy really gave him a chance to bring up his GPA,” she says. Dylan had a 3.5 grade point by the time he left. Jeanette credits small classes and individualized learning for the improvement. “It’s very different from a regular classroom setting. If they want to get individualized help they can.”
“The way they have it structured you have to work to get to the next level,” she explains. The down side of Discovery’s academic approach was trying to find a similar learning environment when Dylan returned home.
The family used a private school for a time, hoping small classes there would be a good interim approach for the larger, public school Dylan now attends.
He’s taken college entrance exams and hopes to study business and marketing at a four year school. He’s hoping to get a swimming scholarship to help finance his degree.
Jeanette says the Academy’s mix of supervised co-educational activities was also a plus. “That’s the real world,” she states. “The academy does a good job of creating a world where the child can test safely with the tools they learning to use.”
While life is better now, Jeanette says their family isn’t perfect. “It’s so slow and sometimes it’s frustrating for a parent. You have to be really patient and keep enforcing the rules. But we’re making progress.”
Dr. David Hillstead has joined the Discovery Academy therapy team. Dr. Hillstead has more than eleven years experience as a therapist. His prior experience includes Aspen Achievement and, most recently, Second Nature.
Dave was born in Provo, Utah but raised in rural Wyoming where his father worked as superintendent of public schools. He got his Bachelor’s Degree from Southern Utah University, where he originally intended to major in pre-med.
But he got a job at a state corrections facility and became interested in what led the inmates, some his own age, to make the choices that led to incarceration.
“I really wanted to understand choices other than cognitive,” Dave explains. “I wanted to understand emotions and meaning and depth of why people make choices, instead of just the more superficial interaction that we have in our lives a lot.”
He changed his major to marriage and family studies and eventually graduated with a doctoral degree from Brigham Young University.
“I love working with families and helping them work out some of their challenges,” he notes. “It’s actually why I really care about these kids. I don’t look at these kids as bad kids at all. I just see them as they’re doing the best they can. They’re making choices and trying to resolve internal conflict. They want to be happy. They’re experimenting.”
“We don’t have the benefit of being able to see ourselves emotionally,” Dave explains. “We’re stuck inside ourselves, so a lot of times we don’t have the insight to even know what’s driving our behavior.”
He describes himself as an “emotionally focused” therapist who helps students connect with their “core” selves – the person they really are. “If their image or who they are trying to be is off their core self, then they don’t have a fulfillment. And that means they’re not receiving the amount of joy they could have. I actually really feel deeply that people need to understand who they are and be brave enough to act on that.”
Dr. Hillstead will head up Discovery’s Wilderness Renewal program. He’ll also be working at Discovery’s sister company – RedCliff Ascent.
Brent Hall, Executive Director at Discovery Academy says, “We feel very fortunate to have Dr. Hillstead as part of our staff. His experience in both wilderness and residential therapeutic settings helps Discovery Academy provide another experiential bridge to effective therapy.”
Discovery Academy is proud of the men and women who work with our students as therapists, educators, and front-line staff. Each newsletter brings you a more personal look at some of the professionals who make Discovery Academy such a rewarding experience. We hope you'll enjoy getting to know them better.
E. Gene Shumway, Ph.D.
For more than 40 years Gene Shumway has been changing children’s lives for the better. Dr. Shumway, a therapist at Discovery Academy, has worked as a child welfare worker, juvenile corrections caseworker, family therapist and university professor. He has been a part of the Discovery Academy team since 1992.
A native of Arizona, Dr. Shumway is also a former Navy aviator. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. His doctoral degree was awarded from Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Shumway is the father of seven children. Despite his extensive education and experience, he says the more he learns the more he realizes how much he still has to learn.
Discovery students and colleagues are grateful for his experience, wisdom, and remarkable work ethic. “I’ve never had a day that was long enough,” he says.
Welcome to “In the Loop”, – the quarterly newsletter for Discovery Academy. We’re pleased to offer news and information to enhance your family’s DA experience. In the coming months you’ll see updates on programs, information about our staff, relationship helps and parenting tips from respected authors and speakers. We welcome your contributions as well. Please give us your feedback at editor@discoveryacademy.com
by Brent Hall, LMFT, Executive Director
I’ve always been somewhat intrigued by numbers. For some reason, it’s easy for me to remember them – especially when they’re grouped in clusters. Ask me how to spell “their,” and I’m temporarily dumbfounded. Ask me the number to the washer repairman and I can rattle it off with no problem.
Lately I’ve been thinking about some numbers important to the history, and future, of Discovery Academy. I’d like to share some of them with you.
Discovery Academy was founded 20 years ago. Alan Barrett, our Business Manager was its very first employee. He’s still with us today holding that same position.
In 1992, Discovery Academy moved into its current location in the Ivy Tower, and Laura Elliker joined the Academy team. That same year therapists Dorothy Ah Quin, Raoul Willard, and Gene Shumway began their careers at Discovery and Elaine Layosa and Max Thomas were hired on as faculty.
All six of these individuals are still at Discovery Academy today, bringing their quest for excellence and their vast experience to our residential, academic and therapeutic programs. They are the nucleus for what makes Discovery Academy great.
The fact that such an outstanding group of professionals is still the core of our operation is virtually unheard of in our industry. It may be due, in part, to what happened at Discovery Academy in 2003.
In 2003, RedCliff Ascent, the premier provider of wilderness therapy for adolescents, expanded its outreach to include residential care and purchased Discovery Academy. RedCliff brought financial stability and commitment to the Academy, along with years of experience helping troubled teens.
In 2008 we have added three fine therapists to our team, Nathan Mitchell, Dr. Tristen Morgan and Dr. David Hillstead. We refined our drama therapy program and gave new direction for our Wilderness Renewal group. We also introduced Echoes, a remarkable after-care program for Discovery students and their families.
And, of course, 2008 was the year we opened our new Academic Center. To date, more than 200 guests have toured this beautiful state-of-the-art building. Each of them has had a first hand look at how our facility supports our experiential program.
Throughout the past six years Discovery Academy has honed its mission and its message. We have discovered what we call our “heartbeat,” the very essence of our being. That heartbeat is our people, our program, and our facility.
Many years, many lives, and many struggles have all clustered to create one – one remarkable program where each child learns to see himself, and his world, with new eyes.
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Congratulations to Oleg Antjuchow! The Ukrainian native is now a United States citizen. Oleg came to the U.S. in 1993 to help his grandparents. Last December he was finally able to take the test to become a citizen. “It took a long, long time to get my paperwork done,” he says.
He studied for his test by reading and listening to CDs, sometimes studying at the Academy where he works as a maintenance specialist.
After passing the test, Oleg was officially granted citizenship on Jan. 13, 2009.
During a recent assembly, he shared with students how much he loved his new country and explained the sacrifices immigrants are willing to make to earn their citizenship.
“I thought it would never happen!” he says. “I feel very, very happy.”
Discovery Academy students and families have the opportunity to continue their therapy at home. Echoes of Discovery is a new after-care program available to all former Discovery students.
Clinical Director Matt Hendry says the Academy has always worked hard to help parents and students establish an effective after-care program involving local therapists and programs. But, he says, “there was like this invisible line we never crossed. There’s something very unique about having the therapists who know your child and have been working with your child being the ones to come into your home.”
He continues, “The idea really got started when I examined my views of the treatment team. I’ve always believed the treatment team is not just who is at the school. It’s the people who are home as well. Why would that change once the student goes home?”
The Echoes program is designed for students who have been home from three to six weeks. For an additional $3-thousand, a team of Discovery Academy therapists comes to the home to work with the family for two days.
On the first day the therapy team uses experiential activities and processing to help parents and child evaluate how the transition home is going. Families learn to communicate without being defensive and how to set and maintain boundaries. Family members are also given specific assignments to help them build relationship skills.
On the second day, the Echoes team reviews the assignments and processes with them about their strengths and any family concerns.
The final phase of Echoes program brings family members and therapist together again for a series of four telephone sessions over the next two months. These sessions provide a forum for parents and student to review their progress and plan for a successful future.
“Sometimes we have this kind of Disney notion of what life will be like once the student returns home,” Matt notes. “Echoes after-care gives the student and the family a chance to talk about what’s actually happening, not what they think or what they hope will happen.”
Recently the Echoes team was helping a California family. “We focused on school and communication,” Matt explains. “We felt like if we could help the family identify the heart beat, if you will, behind those two situations, everything else would fall in line.”
Therapists wanted to get family members looking at the situation from the same page – where no one was enabling and no one was manipulating. The experiential exercise they picked was one using rope handcuffs.
“The student and parent had done it before at Parent Seminar. But they couldn’t remember how to get out of the handcuffs,” Matt recalls. “The student was ready to give up when suddenly the mom remembered how to get out. As we processed about the activity the daughter remarked she thought the only way she could succeed at the activity was to be back at the Academy. But she realized the solution was right there in her own home – her mother.”
“Echoes empowers everyone at home to come to that same realization,” Matt says. “The echo of what they learned at the Academy resounds within their own home. They realize the understanding they gained at Discovery Academy applies anywhere. It’s not just something they did in Provo. It’s something they did to change the rest of their lives.”
Any former Discovery Academy student is eligible to participate. For more information on Echoes of Discovery after-care, please call Mari Allman at (801) 374-2121.
Sixteen Discovery students and two staff members got a firsthand look at Danish Christmas traditions. The students helped the Utah Chapter of the Danish Rebild Society prepare for their annual Christmas festival. That meant transforming a banquet hall into a brightly decorated festival for more than 200 guests.
Discovery students decorated more than ten Christmas trees and helped with table set up and decorations. They also participated in the program that evening in a traditional sing along around the Christmas trees.
In a letter to the Academy, organizers said, “We have had help from youth groups in the past, but never experienced such a well behaved, serviceable and hard working group as these students from Discovery Academy. Thank you for allowing them to assist our Heritage Preservation organization and for giving us the experience of watching such a fine and disciplined group in action.”
On a recent Friday morning a Wilderness Renewal group was crunching through the snow near the shores of Utah Lake. Although just across the valley from Discovery Academy, the remote location was punctuated only by power poles and a lone country road.
The students worked in groups of twos and threes, struggling to “bust a coal” with a bow/drill apparatus. Dr. David Hillstead explained to them one bow/drill set was flawed, the other in perfect condition. They would not be allowed to choose which set they received. The students discussed the similarities between their fire making equipment and life as they struggled to start a fire.
The Wilderness Renewal group is another experiential component of Discovery Academy. Wilderness Renewal groups are comprised of Discovery students who attended wilderness programs prior to their Academy enrollment.
Dr. Dave Hillstead leads the groups. Dr. Hillstead has more than 11 years experience providing adolescent therapy in wilderness and residential settings.
Each group consists of 8-10 students who spend a half day once each week in an outdoor setting that mimics wilderness. The students participate in various activities similar to those practiced at respected wilderness programs throughout the country. Then, in a group therapy setting, they process their activities with Dr. Hillstead.
“Wilderness gives students a sense of pride and feeling of accomplishment,” Dave notes. “Sometimes a change of scenery from the comfort and ease of a residential setting helps students remember how the fire for internal change began in the first place.”
Brent Hall, Discovery’s Executive Director, says the Wilderness Renewal groups are another example of Discovery Academy’s commitment to experiential therapy.
“Something remarkable happens when a student re-connects with the sites and sounds of a wilderness experience. It helps them remember the feelings they had and the commitment they made to themselves,” he says.
Dave Hillstead agrees. “For some students it’s a process of reminding them of what they were excited about.” He says the joint therapeutic approach of residential and Wilderness Renewal helps build on the student’s momentum.
He says therapists are sometimes surprised at how the Wilderness Renewal experience helps bolster residential treatment. “Sometimes just a change in the scenery really helps students open up.”
Discovery Academy | 105 North 500 West | Provo, UT 84601
801-374-2121
please email bennettg@redcliffascent.com