Mattie came to VISTAS North Hollywood in 2011 with a significant history of physical aggression, verbal aggression, impaired distress tolerance and severe mood swings. These factors caused her to be terminated constantly from previous services, programs and schools. Upon arrival at VISTAS, it was palpable that Mattie required a lot of emotional and behavioral support. Initially she was oppositional, defiant, agitated, aggressive and unstable. However, with a compassionate, loving and patient approach to her treatment and care, Mattie has made tremendous gains at VISTAS.

The VISTAS Team has successfully combined strategic behavioral support interventions with a humanistic and person-centered approach which has enabled Mattie to cultivate extremely effective distress tolerance skills. Moreover, while at VISTAS Mattie has also shown remarkable improvement in other areas of need related to socialization, independent-living, and community-inclusion skills.

The VISTAS family is extremely proud of the extraordinary progress Mattie has made and looks forward to many more successful years together!