The curriculum was designed by Daniel Morgan Roberts and is built on the Eight Dimensions of Wellness. This framework was developed in the early 1990s by Dr. Peggy Swarbrick of Rutgers University — built from the lived experience of people in recovery from mental health and substance use challenges — and adopted by SAMHSA, the federal agency that oversees behavioral health care. The coach who runs Horizon’s program was trained on this model.
Every session follows the same structured arc:
Introduction → Introspection → Direct Instruction → Active Participation → Reflection
Each week pairs the clinical theme a teen is working on in therapy with a corresponding wellness domain, the same concept reinforced through two channels at once.
- Week 1 — Emotions / Emotional Wellness: You cannot manage what you cannot identify.
- Week 2 — Anger / Physical Wellness: Anger is energy, and energy can be redirected.
- Week 3 — Depression & Anxiety / Spiritual Wellness: We are not our thoughts.
- Week 4 — Cognitive Distortions / Intellectual Wellness: Our thoughts shape our reality.
- Week 5 — Trauma / Environmental Wellness: Our environment can activate or regulate.
- Week 6 — Addictive Behaviors / Financial Wellness: What we repeatedly choose, we eventually pay for.
- Week 7 — Relationships & Boundaries / Social Wellness: Healthy relationships require clear boundaries.
- Week 8 — Occupational Wellness: Our chosen career affects our quality of life.
What It's Designed to Produce
Our curriculum is designed to produce a teenager who is sleeping through the night and nourishing their body with real food.
The deeper goal is a teenager who is actively engaged in their own recovery. Repair at home holds longer when the daily structures that support it (sleep, movement, nutrition) are already practiced.
Why It Works
Physical activity is one of the better-studied behavioral interventions for adolescent depression, anxiety, and emotion regulation. Regular movement reduces depressive symptoms, lowers anxiety, and improves executive function in adolescents. Trauma-informed movement reduces dissociation, while group exercise builds belonging.
The program is built to make that evidence operational:
- The role is dedicated. Full-time CPT, credentialed and trauma-informed, reporting through the clinical line and documenting in the EMR.
- The curriculum is structured. Eight weeks, designed by Daniel Morgan Roberts, same session arc every week. Not improvised.
- The framework is verifiable — and built for recovery. The Eight Dimensions of Wellness was developed at Rutgers by Dr. Peggy Swarbrick from the lived experience of people in recovery, and adopted by SAMHSA. Not invented for this program.
- The partner is credentialed. Named leadership, PT-reviewed safety protocols, LSW-designed check-ins.
- The work is documented. Wellness participation goes into the EMR and travels to future providers.
