Youth recovery + school that works.
Vivo Missouri is working to create two recovery high schools in St. Louis and Kansas City. The schools will open in Fall 2026.
Vision
Vivo is a safe, youth-led learning environment for diverse students living a substance-free lifestyle. Graduates contribute to society and live with purpose and meaning in all areas of their lives—ready for anything that life throws at them. They are resilient.
Mission
Vivo prepares students for college, career, and personal success in a dynamic world through meaningful, engaging learning experiences and a peer-led, inclusive community of youth supporting each other in a substance-free lifestyle.
Our Approach
At Vivo, our model is built on five core beliefs—community, purpose, equity, meaningful learning, and family connection. Together, these principles form the heart of our recovery-centered educational approach. Recovery is not just about abstaining from substances. It’s about becoming who you are meant to be.
Recovery Happens in Community
At Vivo, students recover together—not in isolation. Peer support is integrated into every aspect of school life because the right peers make all the difference in recovery. Here, we replace negative peer pressure with powerful peer support. Students find the community they need to sustain recovery, showing up for each other daily—rain or shine.
Real Learning, Real Life
Education at Vivo connects directly with each student’s real-life interests and experiences. From fashion design to film production, from sneakers to sewing machines—we use project-based learning to meet students where they're interested, and guide them to where they're inspired. Because if education doesn’t matter to them, it doesn’t work—and recovery follows the same path.
Equity Drives Everything
Recovery shouldn’t be reserved for the privileged. At Vivo, we take what works for those with means—like the gold-standard approaches used by doctors and pilots—and make it accessible for every teenager, regardless of zip code. We break down financial barriers, providing premier recovery education and support to all youth, leveling the playing field.
Purpose is Prevention
We help students discover what truly lights them up. Purpose isn't a luxury—it's protection. When students connect with their passions, recovery isn't about control, it's about character. At Vivo, we don’t just keep students safe—we help them find their spark, transforming who they are, not just what they do.
Families are Part of the Story
Recovery doesn’t just transform individual students—it heals families and communities too. At Vivo, we’re not just changing one life; we're rewriting entire family stories. Parents arrive desperate, but they leave hopeful. We provide families with the community, resources, and hope they've been missing, ensuring healing happens together.
Our Story
Founder Melissa Mouton didn’t set out to build a school—she set out to get sober. In the process, she met a 16-year-old boy who had to drop out of school just to stay clean. That moment planted a seed that would eventually become Vivo: a school rooted in belonging, purpose, and possibility for youth navigating recovery.
Vivo exists because no young person should have to choose between their education and their recovery.
“True recovery transforms who you are, not just what you do.”
— Melissa Mouton, Founder