Full Circle Therapy Model

1. Bridging the Clinical-Social Gap ->

Traditional therapy stops at the office door. The FCM bridges the gap between private clinical support and community integration.

2. Practicing Emotional Resilience. ->

Our model is built to address major causes of disconnection for LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent youth--minority stress, isolation, identity-based trauma, and severe anxiety

3. Empowering a Sense of Control. ->

We don't just focus on changing their environment. We help youth develop the tools to handle challenging situations and move through an unpredictable world with confidence and independence.

Step 1

Getting Started

Youth connect with the Full Circle Model through their Encircle therapist, or through other trusted sources, including medical doctors, school counselors, and faith leaders.
Participants are paired with a licensed Encircle counselor to begin therapy. After a few regular sessions, the Full Circle Model journey begins.

Step 1

Step 2

Setting Goals

In the safety of the therapy room, the therapist and youth collaboratively set goals and select specific coping skills from The Encircle Toolkit.
Together, they map out a customized "Social Assignment" tailored to the youth's specific therapy goals and comfort level. Goals are rooted in Play Therapy and Recreational Education.

Step 2

Step 3

The Coordinated Step-Out

The therapist provides the Encircle programs team with a few details so they can help support the youth as they learn to access their own toolkit items.
The youth practices their new coping skills in a supervised, inclusive and supportive space with LGBTQ+ peers. Encircle programs are designed around youth-specific interests: creative activities, free food and friends.

Step 3

Step 4

Real-World Social Workbench

The youth enters Encircle's programs to practice their coping strategies in an accepting peer community.
Lived experiences and environmental triggers are brought back to individual therapy sessions voluntarily, closing the clinical feedback loop.

Step 4

Step 5

Moving Into Leadership

When the client masters their own situational regulation, they experience a huge shift from vulnerability to self-confidence, moving from care recipient to community builder and role model.
Encircle Therapy doesn't automatically stop upon completion of the Full Circle Model, unless the client and therapist feel that ending therapy is best. Youth can always continue or re-enter both standard therapy and the Full Circle Model at any time.

Step 5

FROM SURVIVAL TO RADICAL JOY

Blueprints of a
Parent's Dream

When a parent/caregiver brings a struggling youth to Encircle, their ultimate dream isn't just that their child manages to survive the week. Their dream is to see that child thrive, smile, and build a real future. We're supporting a journey that takes a youth entirely out of a baseline of survival and helps them grow the confidence to secure stable jobs, build beautiful relationships, and step into a life of radical, unshakeable joy. The youth moves toward:

Deep, Authentic Connections

Stable, loving, and reciprocal relationships where they feel fully seen for exactly who they are

Real-World Independence

Translating distress tolerance wins from Encircle out into the community—managing workplace stress, navigating job interviews, and building confidence

Future-Oriented Actualization

Shifting daily energy away from basic survival frameworks to actively discover their voice, pursue educational/training/etc paths, and build an intentional roadmap toward their long-term dreams

The Lifelong Trajectory

Actively cultivating an unshakeable foundation of pride, helping the young person confidently step into the world as a happy, secure, and thriving adult who truly loves their life

“The Full Circle Model is particularly compelling because it bridges clinical care with community, peer relationships, and family support, giving LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent young people opportunities to practice and strengthen the skills they develop in therapy within safe, supportive, real-world environments.”

Pauline Avis

EdD, University of Northern Colorado

“For parents who might be wondering whether a place like Encircle, or other programs, might be important for your kid, what we need to think about is that sometimes, what might seem small can have a ripple effect. What we know from research is that even just the addition of a friend or increasing that social circle, can have a massive ripple effect. Not only does it impact their mental health, it reduces depression, anxiety.”

Julianne Holt-Lundstad

Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Brigham Young University

“We know that two of the strongest predictors of suicidality are thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. And so what’s powerful about Encircle is that it actually tackles both of those at the same time. That is magic. That is medicine for the soul.”

Lisa Diamond, PhD

Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies, University of Utah

"As an Encircle Board member since 2019 and a PhD Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for close to 30 years, I want to affirm that Full Circle Model isn’t just a good idea — it’s good science and good practice. Research is clear that therapy skills stick when they’re reinforced in real life, and that social connection and family affirmation are among the strongest protective factors for LGBTQ+ youth. FCM brings therapy, family, direct social connection, and warm encouraging community together intentionally, and then measures the impact of this model so we know it’s working and how to improve. This is a thoughtful, relationship-oriented model based on sound research, and I’m genuinely very excited for how it will help Encircle youth, their families, and the amazing support communities found at Encircle homes."

Marty Erickson, PhD

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Owner of Progressive Paths Therapy

"Meaningful mental health support extends well beyond a single point of contact. Lasting change happens when the skills young people learn in therapy are practiced in their everyday lives and reinforced in authentic relationships and environments. By linking clinical care with peer community, parent education, and real-world practice, the Full Circle Model creates a space where young people can build genuine resilience, cultivate sustained support, and develop a true sense of belonging."

Betsy Kanarowski

Chief Clinical Officer at Saprea | PHD, LCSW

"As a therapist, time and again I watch clients respond to the world with bad maps they inherited in childhood. What we all need is not another map, but a compass. Encircle’s Full Service Model provides a comprehensive approach to healing and wholeness that provides young people with a working compass so that even when they cannot see true north, they know the needle can."

Rev. Dr. Paula Stone Williams

TED Speaker, Author, Pastoral Counselor

"The Full Circle Model has the potential to be an impactful addition to the continuum of support available to young people and families. As a clinician who has worked in multiple settings, the intentional bridge between therapy and real-world experience, along with the meaningful involvement of parents and caregivers, stands out as a key component of the model. Helping young people practice what they are learning beyond the therapy room, while strengthening the support around them, is an important approach."

Natalie McClintock, LCSW

Behavioral Sciences Manager, HMHI Mental Health Crisis Care Center

"I'm really impressed by the thoughtful program design of the Full Circle Model. The way it creates connection through integration of therapy, family support, and community will be life-changing for youth who need this service. I'm excited for this to be available in our community and look forward to connecting youth to this critical new program."

Kevin Curtis, LCSW

Operations Director, Huntsman Mental Health Institute

Ensuring evidence based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health.

WPATH

LGBTQ+ Affirming Mental Health Care

Quantifies the reduction of chronic isolation and "thwarted belongingness"

UCLA-3

Loneliness Scale

Tracks reductions in cognitive hyper-vigilance and rejection sensitivity, serving as a proxy for unmasking and social safety in shared spaces

BFNE-II

Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale

Assesses psychological flexibility and the internal capacity to stay present

AAQ-II

Acceptance & Action Questionnaire

Pulsed continuously in 1:1 sessions to ensure ongoing life-safety monitoring

C-SSRS

Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale

Biobehavioral Co-Regulation & Attachment

Anchored in the pioneering adolescent developmental research of Dr. Lisa Diamond (University of Utah)

Family Systems & Ecosystemic Health

Grounded in multi-decade empirical data from Dr. Caitlin Ryan’s Family Acceptance Project (FAP)

Interpersonal Suicide Theory

Structurally engineered to target and eliminate thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness as defined by Dr. Thomas Joiner

Relational Communication Framework

Utilizes Dr. Dan Hughes’s PACE model (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) to guide frontline floor interactions

Cognitive Resiliency &
Locus of Control

Integrates Julian Rotter's foundational psychological framework to actively move youth away from environmental avoidance and build an authentic, self-directed internal locus of control

Identity-Affirming Care & Neurodiversity-Affirming Logic

Rejects compliance-based behavioral modification in favor of intersectional, identity-affirming social frameworks that reduce harmful social masking fatigue and combat autistic burnout

FULL CIRCLE
MODEL

What is the
FULL CIRCLE MODEL?

How is the Full Circle Model Different from Regular Therapy?