It’s been eight years since Thomas left Discovery Academy. Today he is on a full scholarship at Princeton University, working on a PhD in chemistry as he conducts cancer research. His mother says Elaine Layosa is part of the reason why.

 Elaine’s been teaching at Discovery Academy for more than 15 years. She’s touched the lives of hundreds of students, but none more so than Thomas.

 Thomas’s mother, Nicole, says her son was depressed and angry. He struggled with substance abuse. “I’m a nurse and I just knew he was going to die if we didn’t do something,” she recalled in a 2008 interview. “We were desperate for help and couldn’t find any.”

After an unsuccessful experience at a California program she turned to Discovery Academy.

Discovery started with the basics. “They really paid attention to his exercise, nutrition and his school work. They got him refocused on what exactly were the issues,” she says.

Nicole says Elaine’s science class helped Thomas develop a love of chemistry. She arranged for him to do more difficult Advanced Placement work and encouraged his progress in other subjects as well. When Thomas left Discovery, he took a high school diploma with him and a new realization that he was good, really good, at chemistry.

 Since then Thomas has earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees working in organic chemistry. Now he’s hoping to help cancer patients through his work at Princeton.

 Congratulations to Thomas, his family, and the entire academic faculty at Discovery Academy. Your pursuit of excellence touches many lives.

It’s an ego trip – sort of. Ego “treks” are opportunities for Discovery Academy students to identify the feelings that are behind some of their own actions – as well as those of their peers. It’s a common language students and staff speak. And to learn that language, well, that took a little creativity.

            Shift Supervisors Matthew Kiefer and Nick Ostler were always looking for ways to add new experiential activities into the Discovery Academy schedule. They were also interested in ego states – a definition of attitudes that underlie most of our behaviors.

            Residential Director Laura Elliker learned about Ego States from clinicians at Discovery’s sister program, RedCliff Ascent. She wanted a way to incorporate this behavioral language into residential life at the Academy.

            Matt, Nick and Laura created ego treks – experiential activities specifically devoted to teaching students about the ego states model and helping them see the similarities in their lives.

            Three major categories comprise the ego states philosophy: child, parent, and adult. Within each of these areas are additional categories.

            “The child category has four ego states,” Matt explains. “The natural child tends to be fun-loving and creative. Their goal is just to have fun. The little professor is manipulative and can be deceitful to get their way. The rebellious child defies authority. And the adaptive child accepts authority. That child is compliant and willing to work but he also ants to avoid confrontation and personal growth. He’d rather ignore the problem than address it.”

            Matt says the parent ego has two main types: the critical parent who is very demanding and acts out of a need for power and the nurturing parent who is very enabling.

            “The adult ego is the goal,” Matt explains. “It’s a mixture of all the positive qualities from each of the other ego states. In this state, you’re thinking clearly, without emotion, and making wise choices. You’re operating in the here and now,” he continues.

            Laura, Matt and Nick realized that if Discovery students could use this language as a framework for assessing their own behaviors, and those of their peers, they would be better able to understand the motivations behind those actions.

            In order to use the language, students first had to learn it. And that’s where Matt and Nick came in.

            “Utah is the greatest place on earth,” Matt says. “Nick and I wanted to get the students off campus and experience Utah as it really is with hiking, rock climbing, and ice fishing,” he says. And that’s just the list of winter activities.

            Twice a week the pair takes level appropriate students out for an adventure. “After we do the activity, we come back to a park or picnic area and start talking,” Matt says.       Using the ego states language, students and mentors talk about behaviors they may have witnessed on the trip. “They start seeing the connection between the language and their actions,” Matt says.

            It’s a slow process, but Matt says students are starting to use ego states language to discuss feelings and behaviors. He’s also noticed a change in how they treat one another.

            “They’ve actually been able to work with each other more positively. They confront each other on their behaviors according to the emotion that’s behind the ego state, instead of just the surface behavior.”

            Previously, students may have felt their peers were only trying to get them in trouble. Now, Matt says, they realize there may be something to the feedback.

            “Students learn to stop and think about their actions before they make them. They learn to control their emotions a little better. They learn to recognize how to help one another for that underlying emotion instead of just getting upset or angry at that person,” he says.

            Matt says students aren’t the only one benefitting from the ego states language. He and Nick have learned to look beyond surface actions for underlying emotion as they deal with Discovery students.

            “I’m going to treat a scared child a lot different than one just acting out to get attention,” he explains. “It totally changes your perspective about the student.”   

            Word is getting out and Matt says other students are asking about participating.

Matt says, “The other day we hiked Maple Canyon. That was so awesome! The students went back and bragged to the rest of their peers and it gets the other kids amped up to go.” 

            That’s just what Nick and Matt hoped would happen. “We think of fun activities we can do to help build rapport with the kids. Then we put fun and learning together.”

              It’s easier to talk about your art than yourself. That’s the philosophy of Marni Reeve, Discovery Academy’s art therapist.

            “We use art,” she explains, “because sometimes students don’t have the skills to express their feelings verbally or they feel afraid to express it with words.”

            Marni uses visual arts as she works with students in three specific therapy groups. Right now those groups are emotional regulation, girls’ issues, and grief and loss.

            She’ll work with each group for twelve weeks. Then the groups may change to include other therapeutic topics.

            “Even though I tell students the first time we meet, ‘When you make art you’re expressing something about yourself,’ I don’t ask them to comment right away on their projects. When they’re comfortable with me, they talk about it.”

            She says it’s easier for students to say, “In my picture, this is happening,” instead of “In my life, this is happening.”  “It’s a safer way for them to approach emotional issues but it’s really the same thing,” she says.

            Marni had been working at a local hospital in the pediatric center as a play therapist. Prior to that, she worked in the psychiatric unit of a hospital affiliated with Stanford University. She has Master’s degree in marriage and family therapy and art therapy.

            “In a hospital setting, most of the kids are in and out in a few days,” Marni says. At Discovery Academy, she has the chance to work with students on a long term basis.  “It’s that relationship piece I really like,” she says.

            More than just painting, drawing or sculpting, the art projects are as unique as the students she works with.

            For the emotional regulation group, Marni recently scoured a thrift store for all sorts of wooden objects. She painted them all white, and then let students pick an object. Their instructions: express artistically an emotion on the object. Later she asked students to explain what emotion they picked and why. Still later, she asked students to discuss ways they as individuals could express the emotion in ways that were positive.

            The girls’ issues group is tackling a more traditional art medium – quilting. Marni says women have been gathering to quilt and discuss important issues for generations. The Discovery Academy girls share their feelings about therapeutic topics they recommended as they tie quilts. They are also writing letters of advice to younger girls important in their lives. The letters, written on muslin fabric, will be tucked inside the quilt as it is sewn.

            Marni says this is an opportunity for each girl to reflect on what she has learned, what she considers valuable life lessons, and what she wishes to share with another girl she cares about.

            “The girl they are writing to could be a little sister, a young friend, or an unborn daughter,” Marni says. “The fact the letter is sewn inside the quilt, where no one else will read it, makes it even easier for the student to be very candid and open about her feelings.”

            She says every Academy art experience gives students another opportunity to discover their feelings and understand their behaviors – this time through the creative process. “In large part, I’m just introducing different mediums and methods. It’s kind of like giving them something they can take back to their lair and chew on.”

            The art experience may also turn into a healthy coping skill students can use and enjoy throughout their lives.

            In April a Discovery Academy student decided to do something about growing shortages at a local food bank. Will D. talked with food bank personnel and learned the agency often runs short of food after the holidays.

            That’s when Will, an Honor Level student, got an idea. He convinced the Fresh Market grocery store next door to the Academy to donate 100 paper shopping bags. Then he created a flier explaining the need and asking residents to fill the bags with non-perishable food items.

            Discovery students distributed the bags and fliers throughout the neighborhood. Two days later they went back to pick them up.

            Will’s work resulted in more than 700 pounds worth of food donations! Food bank officials say the Discovery service project will make life a little easier for many local families in need.

Find out why Discovery Academy was recently profiled in Dialogue Magazine. Check it out at
http://www.dialogueonline.ca/article.php?id=192

Dan S. is this week’s Student of the Week. His teachers had this to say about him, “Dan displays a great disposition in class, is friendly, kind, considerate and respectful.  All this in addition to his good, steady, consistent work.  He is showing increasing self-confidence.”

Great work!

Discovery Academy faculty have begun selecting one outstanding student each week for recognition as Student of the Week.  During February, they have recognized Sydney A. and Wesley C.

Sydney’s techers said, “She asks questions to help her understand ideas and is focused on learning.  She is patient and steady with her work and efforts.”

Phil Scoville, LMFT, is the newest member of an expanded therapy team at Discovery Academy. Scoville is an experienced therapist whose former treatment environments have included wilderness therapy and residential treatment centers.

“One of the specialties I work with is anxiety disorders,” Scoville explains. He says he’s excited about Discovery Academy’s experiential emphasis and the opportunity of working one-on-one with families. “Families here are very invested in the treatment process,” he notes. “They’re eager to accept their role in their child’s therapy.”

He says he enjoys his role in helping to guide the process as families work toward wellness.

Executive Director Brent Hall says the Academy’s growing student enrollment and a commitment to small therapist caseloads gave the school an opportunity to add Scoville. “His background in wilderness and residential therapy, as well as his work in anxiety related issues, is a great addition to our team,” Hall notes.

Born in Alberta, Canada, Phil moved to the United States as a child when his father pursued chiropractic training in Utah. Scoville holds a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a Master’s degree from Loma Linda University. He’s currently working on his doctoral dissertation at Brigham Young University.

Married with three children, when he’s not working or trying to keep up with his young family Phil enjoys snowboarding, waterskiing and football. He plays the guitar and says he has a passion for music, especially indie-rock.

Welcome, Phil!

It’s been a few years now since our son attended Discovery in Provo, UT. He was there from Oct through Jun and I do believe Discovery saved either his life…or a life of misfortune or possibly prison. He fought you all the way, until you made him realize fighting would not help. He left Discovery earlier than you wanted, struggled with some minor problems when he came back home. He got an MIP for drinking, which seemed to wake him up again that deeds had consequences. He managed to return to the regular high school his senior year instead of the “alternative” high school, graduated with his old classmates and then attended Montana State University for the fall and followed his girlfriend out to Illinois for the winter term. He finished that year with a 3.65 at MSU and a 4.0 at Illinois, and has since returned to MSU where he continues to do well. He is still moody, still has some problems from his extended drug use in high school, but there is no doubt, that Discovery Academy literally saved him and for that I thank you.
Sincerely,
Ron and Lori M.