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Wilderness therapy is a program that takes place in a wilderness or remote outdoor settings. Such programs include counseling, therapy, education, different trainings and primitive living challenges. Such living conditions promote honesty, awareness, openness, responsibility and accountability.
The main aim of wilderness therapy is to place problem teenagers into safe environment far from negative influences and help them learn to communicate, cooperate and contribute to the well-being of a group of their peers.
Wilderness therapy, in the purest form, is a positive growth experience where teens face natural challenges and adversities that are designed to be therapeutic in nature. Teenagers are not merely thrown into the wilderness and made to suffer hardships. They are removed from their environment, encouraged, challenged and given every opportunity to succeed. The activities in these programs include:
- primitive living;
- outdoor education;
- structured daily activities;
- team building;
- experiential therapy;
- counseling;
- individual therapy;
- group therapy;
- exploration;
- expeditions;
- natural consequences for actions taken.
In a properly run program, therapeutic activities should be supervised by licensed health care professionals who have experience and training in experiential education, behaviorism and group and interpersonal therapy. Wilderness therapy program philosophy stands in sharp contract to the approach used in residential treatment centers.
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Therapeutic programs options for your problem teenager:
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Cross Creek Manor for Girls
Southern Utah
Accepts girls, ages, 12-17&1/2 years
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Cross Creek Center for Boys
Southern Utah
Accepts boys, ages 12-17&1/2 years
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Academy at Ivy Ridge
Upper New York State
Accepts boys and girls,* ages 13-17&1/2 years
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Majestic Ranch
Randolph, Utah
Accepts boys and girls, ages 7-13 years
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Tranquility Bay
Jamaica
Accepts boys and girls*, ages 12-17&1/2 years
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Carolina Springs Academy
South Carolina
Accepts boys and girls,* ages 13-17&1/2 years
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Spring Creek Lodge
Thompson Falls, Montana
Accepts boys and girls*, ages 12-17&1/2 years
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