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The Monarch Center's Five Core Foundations
of Family Therapy
At the Monarch Center, the following Five Core Foundations are at the center of everything we do:

Contact is Everything  |  Here and Now  |  Families
Expression of Emotion  |  Wilderness
The Monarch Center was founded 10years ago by Dave and Lori Ventimiglia who remain intimately involved in every aspect of the business today.

  1. Contact is Everything:


    "Contact" is a frequently used word at Monarch. It is just another way of saying "being in relationship," "being authentic" or "being in love." Much of one's health and happiness depends upon our ability to make and maintain contact with those we are in close relationships with. When families learn (or re-learn) how to make genuine contact with one another, it transforms their relationships and can sustain them through the naturally tumultuous times of adolescence and young adulthood.
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  2. Here and Now:


    From a Gestalt perspective, all of whom we are is present in the here and now. In other words, when a person steps out into the middle of a group of people, all of their past experiences, relationships, successes, failures, traumas, loves, etc. are present with them. So, when we "work" with a student or family, we push for contact in the present and discourage the tendency of some people to distract with stories of the past, tangential ramblings and other subconscious tricks that distract from the necessary work in the present.
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  3. Families:


    If a member of a family is struggling, there is work to be done on the part of all family members - it is an integrated system. There is a trend in the current adolescent inpatient treatment model of sending struggling adolescents away from home for extended periods of time (sometimes in excess of a year). Furthermore, family involvement is often times severely restricted or prohibited. Monarch believes that such policies can be extremely counterproductive and are sometimes unethical. Children and adolescents are best raised in families, not in institutions or treatment programs. When a family is in crisis and needs to send their son/daughter to an out of home placement, we believe this time should be as short as possible, with an abundance of family involvement and ultimately toward the goal that the youth return home as soon as possible.
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  4. Expression of Emotion:


    Our ability to express and feel joy and love is directly connected to our ability to feel the pain of sorrow and anger. It is impossible to truly open one's heart to one's emotion without inviting the other emotions in. This fact, while painful, is an incredible gift as it pushes us into contact with our true selves. At Monarch, we encourage the full expression of emotion, while remaining in contact with those around us. We avoid the use of gimmicky techniques (that ultimately bottle up feelings) such as "anger management" or "behavior modification" with their easily manipulated points or level systems. When achieved, the full expression of emotion feels innately right, and when honed as a skill it has the power to bring our relationship with others and ourselves to a level that is ultimately more honest, alive, and real.
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  5. Wilderness:


    We believe that ultimately we heal and grow when we are able to truly form healthy relationships and connect with other human beings. The backcountry provides the time, silence and challenges necessary to focus us on what does - and does not - work in our relationships with others.

    The removal of technology and it's inherent distractions opens up an inner world that has long been neglected, in the quiet splendor of the wilderness the inner exploration can begin.

    Logical and natural consequences are the tools and teachers that exist in abundance in Nature. An example of a logical and natural consequence is a student who experiences cold because he/she did not put his/her rain coat on. Another example is a student who is careless about how he/she forms relationships with other human beings or a youth who believes that having healthy relationships is irrelevant to his/her life. In the backcountry, getting along with others is of paramount importance because we need each other more out there. A person, who does not understand this, may experience great hardship when they need others to assist them in completing challenging climbs, river crossings or other tasks.

    Camping and connecting with Nature becomes an invaluable tool, a coping mechanism that becomes internalized as a future tool for our students.

    For many of our students, the physical nature of backcountry living, as well as the constant productivity required of them, feels inherently healthy as they learn how to productively channel their energy. Meaningful and lasting change is almost inevitably the result!
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If you have questions about which course is right for you, your family, or someone else, please call or email our Admissions Coordinator at 303-569-0767