A Day in the Life
Integrated Treatment
MVTC offers an integrated treatment environment to address adolescent anxiety disorders and OCD
Each day, from a scheduling perspective, mimics a typical school day and is filled with structured and purposeful activities that balance the resident’s daily individual and group therapy sessions. Our activity therapy modules offer complementary and incremental challenges that take advantage of our surroundings, including yoga practice and meditation, gardening, and art, as well as mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing and taking care of our animals.
Our dormitories are comfortable, safe and non-institutional feeling. We try to simplify life to help residents understand the differences between actual and perceived needs. Mountain Valley is an “unplugged” community and access to personal cell phones and the Internet is limited to therapeutic or educational purposes. Lunch and dinners are served family-style to emphasize the importance of social interaction. And whenever possible, students participate in both the cultivation and preparation of the foods we grow and raise on our campus.
Mountain Valley accurately describes us geographically, as well as symbolically. The mountain represents a challenge to overcome, and the valley a sense of rest, peace, and balance that we seek to give all our residents.
Weekly Schedule
The Mountain Valley resident schedule, designed to replicate hours of a typical school day, features the best in evidence-based clinical care for OCD, anxiety and related disorders within the context of a robust, holistic program environment.
Saturday/Sunday
Extended Off-Campus Adventure, Cultural, or Recreational weekend activities.
Details
* Individual Therapy
Each Treatment Program Resident receives two individual therapy sessions per week with their primary therapist. Family therapy occurs weekly via secure video conference, phone or on-site. Review of a resident’s multi-disciplinary treatment plan occurs weekly.
1 Exposure Response Prevent (ERP) Group
A key component of the treatment programming – the unique and specialized evidence-based component of Mountain Valley Treatment Center. ERP is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) modality designed to provide gradual exposure to what causes a particular anxiety or compulsion. Willingness and learning from the exposure work is individually tracked. As psycho-education, this group therapy component of exposure therapy supports the individual therapy in which a resident is participating.
2 Activity Therapy Module Programming
This is the holistic, experiential program component of Mountain Valley Treatment Center. Modules are designed to foster skill development and mastery, stewardship, and fitness. They include Stewardship activities (animal care, gardening, community service), Yoga & Meditation, Academics, Creative Arts, Emotional and Physical Wellness and Therapeutic Recreation (on-site low ropes course and climbing tower weekly).
3 Milieu Strengthening Activity
Making “TRACKS”; Trust, Resilience, Acceptance, Courage, Knowledge, and Service. This is a time where residents can build healthy community living skills, practice gratitude, and support each other’s treatment progress. TRACKS is the cultural backbone of our therapeutic community.
Group Therapy
As a short-term residential treatment center, Mountain Valley offers multiple group therapy sessions per week in addition to the Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) groups that occur twice per week. Current Thematic Group Therapy includes Expressive Arts, Process Groups, and Acceptance & Commitment Group.
Weekend Schedule
Residents participate in diverse, seasonally specific programming on Saturdays and Sundays. Extended off-campus cultural, arts and recreational activities such as trips to nearby Dartmouth College, local ski slopes and trails, seasonal adventure activities such as canoeing and spelunking, and sports are just a small part of the weekend programming.