​​Young adults participating at The Bridge often have a few primary goals in mind: I want to become independent, I want to improve my confidence, I want to define my future path, I want to overcome my anxiety and take on life’s challenges openly.
 
In addition to focusing on these important goals, The Bridge encourages its participants to work on developing a well-rounded self. For this purpose, we have based our framework on the 8 Dimensions of Young Adult Success model. This model, created for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, encompasses over 50 different theoretical and empirical explorations of successful young adult development, organized into 8 dimensions by two research teams. We have added the dimension of Spirituality, which is often disregarded in research because it's harder to measure, but has been proven to be essential for wellbeing. These dimensions portray the categories that, when attended to and developed, allow young adults to most successfully navigate this stage of life and prepare for adulthood. The dimensions are the following:

• Psychological and Emotional Health: positive self identity, mood regulation, self-protecting and self-improving mechanisms.

• Life Skills and Executive Functioning: financial responsibility, organization and planning, intentional decision-making, independent living skills.

• Ethical Behavior: positive values, work ethic, commitment, trustworthiness

• Healthy Social and Family Relationships: communication skills, team and group orientedness, empathy, social engagement

• Physical Health: good nutrition, exercise routine, sobriety, adequate sleep, safe sex

• Educational Attainment: engaged in academic pursuits, learning how to learn better, career exploration

• Constructive Engagement: maintaining a productive schedule, exploring diverse interests and activities, future planning, adequate time management

• Civic Engagement: volunteer work, leadership, global citizenship  

• Spirituality: a sense of connectedness and purpose beyond oneself. 

 
 
The Bridge provides opportunities for its students to engage and improve in all 9 dimensions in the most creative and individualized way possible, and continually involves students in the process of considering well-rounded development by having them create weekly steps on each of the dimensions that correspond to their Master Goal Plan. 
Furthermore, students take a 4-credit college course on the science behind these 9 dimensions as part of the program. Read more about this in Academic Opportunities. 

Testimonials 

"The built-in structures of the program show that you are dealing with a whole person, who is going to graduate to a healthy interactive life."
-Bridge parent
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“I’m learning more about myself, learning important life skills, practicing Spanish, living more independently with a crucial safety net, and gaining confidence that I’ll succeed outside of here.”
​-Bridge Participant

The Bridge's 9 Dimensions of Healthy Living is based on work by Peter L. Benson and Peter C. Scales (Search Institute) and J. David Hawkins, Sabrina Oesterle, and Karl G. Hill (Social Development Research Group, University of Washington) on 2016 for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
​Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Oesterle, S., Hill, K. G., Hawkins, J. D., & Pashak, T. J. (2016). The dimensions of successful young adult development: A conceptual and measurement framework. Applied Developmental Science, 20(3), 150-174.