Stuart Squires is the Clinical Director at Vive Adolescent Care, a residential mental health treatment center for teenagers in St. George, Utah. He oversees the clinical program that guides adolescents ages 12 to 17 through trauma-informed, family-centered treatment.
Background and experience
Squires earned a Master's in Social Work in 2004 and has spent roughly two decades working in adolescent mental health. Over that span he has held a range of roles, including therapist, assistant clinical director, clinical director, executive director, and business developer.
That progression has given him both a clinician's view of the day-to-day work of therapy and an operator's view of how a treatment program is built and run. The combination is unusual. Many clinicians stay close to the therapy room, and many program leaders come from the business side, but Squires has worked from both directions, which shapes how he approaches the role at Vive.
By his own account, he traces his commitment to this field to his upbringing. He grew up in a family that operated a group home for adult women with developmental disabilities, an environment he credits with teaching him the value of compassion and service early on. That experience, he has said, pointed him toward a career in mental health.
Approach to adolescent care
At Vive, Squires helps lead a model that emphasizes individualized treatment plans and active family involvement rather than one-size-fits-all protocols. The program brings parents and guardians into therapy through regular sessions and on-site family work, an approach aimed at rebuilding trust and communication while a teen stabilizes.
The focus on family reflects a view that a teenager does not heal in isolation. Treatment is built to send adolescents back into a household that has also done some of the work, rather than returning them to the same dynamics they left. For a residential setting, that emphasis on the system around the teen is the part Squires returns to most often when describing the program.
Perspective as a parent
Squires is also a father of eight, with children involved in activities ranging from dance and gymnastics to soccer, track, and cheerleading. He has described that personal experience as something that informs his work.
Being a parent of that many children, across that many ages and interests, gives him a working sense of adolescent development that runs alongside his clinical training. He has framed it as seeing the same questions from two chairs at once, as a parent and as a clinician, which is part of why family involvement sits at the center of how he runs the program.
To read more about the program Squires leads, see our feature on how Vive Adolescent Care supports teens facing mental health struggles.
Press and media
Squires leads the clinical program at Vive Adolescent Care, whose admissions process, clinical team, and treatment philosophy are detailed on its official website at vivetreatment.com. The program is also listed in the NATSAP program directory.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Stuart Squires?
Stuart Squires is the Clinical Director of Vive Adolescent Care, a teen mental-health treatment provider in St. George, Utah, with roughly two decades of experience in adolescent mental health.
What does Vive Adolescent Care do?
Vive Adolescent Care provides residential mental-health treatment for teenagers ages 12 to 17, supporting adolescents facing emotional and behavioral challenges through trauma-informed, family-centered care.
What is Stuart Squires's background?
He earned a Master's in Social Work in 2004 and has worked as a therapist, assistant clinical director, clinical director, executive director, and business developer over about twenty years in the field.
Where is Vive Adolescent Care based?
The program is based in St. George, Utah.