Aspen Team
This Social Scaffolding program is for young people who face
challenges in various social dimensions and have had difficulties in
successfully launching their lives. Aspen Network is here to help
Aspen Network: Opening New Pathways to a Fuller Life
A 4-Part Program for Young People with Social Differences
Team-Living
Pods
Living with peers who truly understand your
challenges can be a comfortable environment for growth
Young people with social anxiety, socially driven depression, spectrum differences, lack of experience, or basic fear of the unknown have felt the need to stay isolated if they are to stay safe. What has been needed is both a safe and welcoming environment outside of parents’ homes where they can test their wings—a place where they can be understood and appreciated by peers of their own. Our Team-Living PODs residence program meets this need.
A small co-ed residence program with double-occupancy rooms, our PODs help young adults move out of their parents’ homes, often for the very first time. Launching from a parent’s home and living with peers who understand their needs and challenges is critical if young people are to take that important next step toward a fuller, more independent life. The PODS are designed to enhance their abilities to make and to feel deserving of friends, roommates, partners and companions.
Living Skills
Group
Every week we have a free-form sharing
and learning session called “Group”
Our Thursday evening Living Skills Group meetings are 80 minutes of stimulating, thought-provoking, transformative interaction, and they are not without laughter. Teens and young adults with a range of social anxieties and challenges meet at our POD in Orinda, California.
Team
Camp
Summer camp is one of those rites of passage that many children with social differences miss. And if their parents do send them, with the best of intentions, the children often experience failure. They may feel unsafe, may be bullied. Yes, camp can be a hurtful disaster, further confirming a child’s sense of isolation, inadequacy, and fear.
We started Team Camp because we saw how important—and how therapeutic—it can be for young people to experience and enjoy nature up close. Initially, we began with a group of young people who wanted to attend camp, some with social differences and some without, and from the beginning Team Camp was a tremendous success.
Team Camp is co-ed and open to a broader age range than our other programs. We accept young people ages 13 to late twenties, pending application approval. We carefully organize age-appropriate topics and breakout groups for different ages and maturity levels. We have years of experience addressing the differing interests of our campers and have an excellent, well-trained staff that is sensitive to these interests.
One-on-One
Coaching
Meg Fields, RN, Psy.D., is an analytically trained psychotherapist and co-founder of Aspen Network. She helps teens, young adults, older adults, and family members to develop a deeper understanding of themselves. She assists individuals who are having social difficulties begin to consider what sorts of accommodations might be possible and useful for them. Meg is both compassionate and practical in her coaching, and she is particularly interested in solutions that make sense for her clients. She believes in having open, respectful, and thoughtful interactions, co-creating with them and always seeking a clearer assessment of things that were once baffling. Some of the coaching meetings may include Aspen Network co-director Michael Fields and other members of the Aspen Team staff who can increase the value of the meeting. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.