New Perspectives Young Adults

Support for Neurodivergent Individuals

New Perspectives Young Adults (NPYA) is a supportive community for young adults who are neurodivergent. We help our students embrace and celebrate their unique selves, build strong relationships, and enhance their well-being.

This video encapsulates the essence of several NPYA students and staff members. They articulate their personal understanding of neurodiversity and express what it truly means to them. Rather than relying on a standard textbook definition, this video invites you to see and learn from their unique perspectives. We encourage you to take a few moments to not only listen but also empathize with the daily experiences of these young adults and their team.

New Perspectives Young Adults (NPYA) is not a facility or a treatment program. Instead, it serves as a safe space where individuals can explore their personal goals, experience personal growth within a supportive community, and enhance their self-awareness. At NPYA, meaningful relationships are cultivated, skills are expanded upon, and personal growth is fostered, all while nurturing a genuine belief in each person’s abilities.

NPYA takes an individualized coaching approach, engaging clients through personal and social interactions. The goal is to build duplicatable skills that lead to successful and sustainable independence. Achievement is not solely measured by success or failure in attempting new things; rather, it is about learning from each experience throughout the day.

Each student’s journey at NPYA is as unique as their individual needs, challenges, goals, talents, fears, and hopes. New Perspectives is more than just a program—it’s a way of learning, a way of experiencing, and ultimately, a way of living.

Testimonials

  • "I was so lucky to get to share my craft/art with your kids a few weeks ago in Orem. I came into town for a few days to teach the kids how to make Hats; which is what I do for a living. This was so much fun for the kids and for me. I'm not sure how most of you all feel but I often grapple with how to connect with my kiddo who is in the process of learning to be an adult while legally being one. It is often hard for me to put down my own preconceived notions and expectations of my child. In other words I am ill at ease with my kiddo, this making hats week experience was meant to give me a premise to spend time with my child...it became so much more as I got to know your kids as well. Additionally I learned so much about my preconceived notions and expectations by being with so many neuro diverse young people. I also relaxed dramatically around these kids which made it so much easier to be around my kid. Additionally these young folks need contact from us. It wasn't just my kid who benefitted by having a parent present and giving their time to the kids, I believe all the kids felt " seen" if you will by having a parent there giving their time to them. I imagine that sounds very goofy and woo woo to some of you and frankly it felt that way as I was feeling it happen but it was real. I would encourage you all to see if you have a trade or talent you can share with these young adults...be it computer web design or learning how to balance checkbooks or some other art like quilting or baking...These young folks are not only hungry for knowledge, they are hungry for knowledge from us, their parents. At least one of the kids in the group had a serious predilection to costume and or fashion design and before I left I encouraged her to apply for an internship with the opera or the theatre in Salt lake. I'm sure that the staff has been saying this to her but apparently hearing it from a professional made a difference for her. Many of you could make a difference for some of the other kids who are learning to make their way in a world that doesn't really tick the way they do. In my journey with our child I have found that parents have been my best resources for support however this visit ; teaching the kids taught me how great a resource they are. So that's it, I am already thinking of a class I can make happen for the kids next year I can create as I learned so much and felt so great doing this, but I also felt that they got so much out of the experience and it cost me a few nights in a hotel and a plane ticket I was already planning on taking....so I will find a way to do this again. I hope you all will consider sharing your talents with the kids as well."

    —Ruth Sofaer-Morse (Parent of Current NPYA Student)

  • "Dawn Bauer worked with me as a parent coach for several years when my son was in his mid-20’s. Dawn helped me understand the changing and developing role that I should play in my son’s life as he launched into adulthood – that I should stop parenting him like the adolescent that he had been so that he could gain the skills to become an adult. She helped me to identify how my own parenting behaviors, including my tendency to over-support my son and problem solve for him, was preventing him from learning the skills that he needed to launch into adulthood and that what I thought was loving support was actually destructive enabling. During my time working with Dawn, she provided a very safe and supportive space for me to explore my own struggles and anxieties as a parent, and her coaching helped me gain valuable insights into my own communication style and the impact that it was having on my son. She supported me during the process of implementing new boundaries in my relationship with my son and helped me to understand that for my son to become independent, he would first have to learn to tolerate distress and uncertainty so that he could gain the motivation to make the changes he needed to move forward into adulthood. The process wasn’t always an easy one, but with the support of Dawn I was able to learn and implement the tools and techniques to set healthy boundaries while still fostering a supportive and loving relationship with my young adult son."

    —Deborah Bailin (Parent of NPYA Alum)

  • "When I began working with Victoria I was in a difficult transition in my life. My teenage daughter was playing the edges of her independence and our relationship was shifting. I was unfocused in my career, feeling stuck in my personal growth, ungrounded in my spiritual life and suffering from depression. With Victoria’s help I recognized my own patterns of putting everyone else’s needs and wants before my own. I learned to identify my true desires, and learned where I was saying yes when I really meant no and how to directly and respectfully ask for what I wanted. It meant some uncomfortable boundaries needed to be acknowledged and spoken. I had to restructure important relationships, the most important being with myself. I have learned to be patient with myself and others and to look at what is working, and to celebrate that, too. Victoria’s approach was kind and supportive, creative and responsive. And she also had the stamina and compassion to question and hold me accountable to my own growth. Of course my life is forever a beautiful work in evolution but I feel more confident and connected to what really matters from our work together. My career as a yoga teacher has grown and my relationships with family and friends have deepened. While self-doubt may still arise I receive it now as a little love postcard card from the future me to my past self which says “Look how you’ve grown. Here’s a place you used to live and now you just flyover from time to time on your way to new heart terrain. Thanks Victoria for the spacious inner view."

    —Michelle (Parent of NPYA Alum)