A private five-year vocational residency for young adults with intellectual and developmental differences, TBI, and neurodivergent profiles. Built for families who refuse to accept that growth ends at 21.
Scholar-paced advancement. Clinical structure. Real professional work.
Young adults who have been consistently underserved by every existing post-secondary option in Western Washington. Not because they lack capability, but because available programs have never asked enough of them.
Young adults with mild to moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities whose capability far exceeds what available programs have ever asked of them. ThrivePoint meets them where their ability actually is. Not where the system decided to stop.
Traumatic brain injury survivors whose vocational trajectory was disrupted by acquired neurological injury. ThrivePoint provides the structured, low-arousal professional environment they need to rebuild independence on their own timeline.
Neurodivergent young adults aging out of the foster care system who have been labeled and managed by every institution they have encountered, who deserve to be seen as the capable people they are.
Scholars choose a Guild, a professional vocational track built around skills with real-world application. This is not simulated work or occupational therapy. It is professional development.
Commercial kitchen skills, professional food service, event catering, and real guest hospitality. From knife safety to a multi-course dinner served at a Guild Hall gala. The Culinary Guild operates a real commercial kitchen producing real food for real events.
Professional document archiving, digital preservation, metadata management, and media production. Scholars produce real deliverables for real clients. Skills that translate directly to professional library science, records management, and digital media roles.
Fine arts, ceramics, printmaking, and maker-studio craft. Work that is displayed, sold, and valued. Not tucked away as occupational therapy. The Artisan Studio produces work that goes into the world and earns recognition on its merits.
Planning, coordination, event management, and professional communication. The skills that make every other Guild run, skills that transfer to any professional environment. Operational Leadership scholars run the logistics of ThrivePoint's real events and enterprises.
Scholars choose their Guild, build their skills, and advance at their own pace through a documented five-tier mastery framework. Staff are Guild leads with professional expertise, not supervisors managing behavior.
A 1:5 staff-to-scholar ratio. An LPN-Director of Clinical Services on site. Individual Support Plans reviewed annually. Clinical protocols written by a consulting neuropsychologist. All of this operates in the background. Scholars experience a professional environment, not a clinical one.
Most programs move scholars toward an exit. ThrivePoint is built for scholars who need years, not months, to develop real professional capability. Families who have spent years being told their scholar needs to move on will find something different here. Scholars stay as long as they are growing.
ThrivePoint Academy has 25 seats. That is not a marketing constraint. It is a clinical requirement. The 1:5 staff-to-scholar ratio that makes this program work cannot be maintained beyond 25 scholars. Families who secure a waitlist position now will be first in line when enrollment opens. Our target is 2027 Q1.
Your deposit is protected. Waitlist deposits are held in a dedicated ThrivePoint Academy LLC account and are not used for operating expenses. A signed Waitlist Agreement, which documents your refund rights and the specific timeline from which your refund window is measured, is sent to you within 24 hours of your deposit. Payment instructions are provided by email upon inquiry. Questions? Contact billing@thrivepoint.academy
Not ready to deposit? Let us know you're interested and we'll keep you informed.
ThrivePoint Academy is a private-pay program. Our families are not identified through agency pipelines. They are identified through the professional networks of the people who know them best.
If you work with transition-age young adults with IDD, TBI, or neurodivergent profiles, the families you serve may be exactly who we are building this for.
We are in pre-opening phase. We are not asking for a formal referral. We are asking for an introduction. A 20-minute call. A family who wants to know whether ThrivePoint is what they have been looking for.
We understand that the families you serve need more than a brochure. They need to trust the program and the person running it. Carla Estes is available for direct conversations with clinical and legal professionals who want to understand what ThrivePoint is before recommending it to anyone.
Contact: office@thrivepoint.academy
(253) 600-2949
Here is exactly where we are and what comes next. This page is updated as milestones are reached.
ThrivePoint Academy LLC is an active Washington State limited liability company. The full program framework is complete: Guild curriculum across all four tracks, clinical protocols, scholar documentation system, enrollment agreements, staff policies, and the operational infrastructure needed to open responsibly.
CompleteWe are actively identifying and touring candidate facilities in University Place and Fircrest. Once a facility is selected, remodel and build-out begins to bring each Guild Lab, the Guild Hall, and all common areas to the standard ThrivePoint scholars deserve.
In ProgressEight founding staff positions are confirmed and ready to be filled. Hiring begins once the facility is secured. The founding team includes a Culinary Guild Instructor, a Director of Clinical Services, a Site Coordinator, and three Lead Guild Specialists, all of whom are veterans or former first responders.
UpcomingStandard Residency scholars begin their first program day. Nine to five, Monday through Friday. Families who have secured a waitlist position will be the first to receive enrollment offers, in order of their deposit date. Twenty-five total seats across all tiers.
TargetThe Concierge Residency tier opens for enrolled scholars whose families have secured a Concierge waitlist position. Seven in the morning to seven in the evening, extended schedule. Founding Rate Lock families hold their $6,800 monthly rate permanently for as long as their scholar is continuously enrolled.
TargetI spent 25 years in education, beginning in Los Angeles, California and the last six years in Pierce County, Washington, as a classroom teacher, building principal, and special education transition coordinator. I worked directly with the young adults ThrivePoint will serve. I watched them age out of systems that were supposed to prepare them and find nothing on the other side.
Not because they lacked capability. Because the programs that existed were not built for what they are actually capable of.
ThrivePoint is not my retirement project. It is the most serious professional work I have ever done. I am building it because it needs to exist, because I am the person who knows how to build it, and because the scholars who will walk through these doors deserve someone who isn't going to cut corners to get there.
If you are a family who has been told that your scholar's growth has a ceiling. I want to talk to you. Reach out directly.