Why wilderness works?

Wilderness therapy combines a challenging outdoor experience with positive peer group interaction, relationships with instructors along with traditional therapy. The goal is to surface underlying issues and affect significant change in a short amount of time.

A Natural Setting The distractions of home, friends, electronics, music and drugs vanish. Students are in a structured environment, free of having to make significant decisions or worry about distractions. Once free from these distractions, students have the time and ability to hold up a mirror and examine what has gone wrong in their life. Nature with its healing and restorative powers provides the ideal backdrop for this to occur.

Reliance on their Peer Group Students are placed in small single gender groups. The success of the group in a wilderness setting is highly dependent on developing a sense of trust, cooperation and problem solving. Students who have been unwilling to open up to others find that the peers in their group can be a good sounding board to discuss their feelings and issues. Once the issues are surfaced, the teenager feels more empowered and comfortable to share them with others.

Overcoming Challenges Many students have had a series of negative experiences and failures that have contributed to self doubt and poor self esteem. Managing the wilderness experience provides challenges and obstacles that the student must overcome. When a student sets up a tent, makes a fire, hikes up the hill or crosses a stream they begin to develop a sense of accomplishment, confidence and inner strength. They are presented with positive reinforcement for a job well done and opportunities to share their skills with others.

Opportunity to Process Experiences Negative behaviors and struggles that were present at home are often present in the wilderness. As these events happen, students are assisted to process these issues in real time and better understand the consequences of their actions. Often there are natural consequences for negative behavior. If a tarp is not set up during a rainstorm, students don't have to be told that's wrong; they get wet. Metaphors are used to link experiences in wilderness to real life experiences. Field instructors and therapists are an on-going presence to help students learn from their behaviors, mistakes and successes to create a better process.