8 Reasons For An Adolescent Wilderness Teen Program

Guest blogger and educational consultants Bodin share expert 8 reasons why Teen Wilderness Programs are sometimes the best and only alternative for a struggling teen.

1. A WAKE-UP CALL
   • Letting a student know that business as usual is about to end.
   • Life as you know it won’t continue.
   • Students also get a sense of gratitude regarding the relationships with family, teachers, adults, etc. A wake up call into their past relationship with adults in their life.
2. BUY SOME TIME
   • In a crisis situation, you can gain valuable time to more thoroughly and thoughtfully consider and evaluate options and develop a long term plan.
   • It slows things down, so that families can make decisions through planning and thoughtfulness and not through crisis.
   • At times, students need to get out of dangerous situations.
3. THERAPEUTIC BENEFIT
   • Natural consequences and “Wilderness as Therapy” allow the student to gain insight into maladaptive behavior patterns and to begin to develop communication, leadership and organizational skills. The pride of accomplishment can be translated into the next environment.
   • Shifts and insights into behavioral patterns begin to happen.
   • We are also given the opportunity to see this student at baseline: answering the question, “How does this person act in the world without stress from school, family, friends, television, etc.?” If a student is a drug user, time at wilderness gives us the opportunity to see how the student interacts in the world when sober.
4. EVALUATIVE FEEDBACK
   • Wilderness programs enable students to be observed away from distractions and escapes.
   • We learn how the student copes with various physical and emotional challenges.
   • We learn about the willingness and readiness of the student to make changes in his or her behavior.
   • We learn what therapeutic approaches are most effective for the student.
   • We get a “pure and natural” view of patterns and coping mechanisms, allowing us to better plan for next options for the student.
5. PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT STEP
   • We have used the evaluative feedback, gained time, and are seeing the therapeutic benefits of the wilderness which all help develop the options for the next step. How can the student know how to translate his or her successes?
6. SOFTENING EFFECT
   • Most students have a “softening effect” by being in Wilderness. This comes from gaining an insight into their problems as well as a desire and motivation for change.
   • Because of this, we are typically able to choose from among a softer array of programs as the next step.
   • This opens up more options from our spectrum of residential programs. Yet, it also narrows our options by giving us more specific areas that the students need to work on, giving us a focus when looking at other options for next steps.
7. SOCIALIZATION SKILLS
   • Wilderness programs also help students gain appropriate and positive social skills which in turn, increase their self-esteem.
8. EQUALIZING EFFECT
   • Many of the students we work with have an attitude of being “better than everyone else,” that for whatever reason, they are entitled. Wilderness programs put the kids all on the same page: all are dressed the same, eating the same food. No one is better than the other.
   • This helps the student get past one of the coping mechanisms and/or defenses that enable their negative behavior.

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About the Author: Bodin is an educational consulting and psychological testing group that has served clients locally, nationally and internationally since 1979. Bodin focuses primarily on working with the special needs child, adolescent or young adult and his or her family. Bodin consists of Master and Ph.D level professionals whose cumulative experience totals decades.
Bodin has four offices throughout California and one in Salt Lake City, Utah. You may contact them by email at info@thegroup.com, or phone 800-874-2124.

Tagged as: adolescents, struggling teens, therapeutic, Wilderness Therapy