How and why does wilderness therapy even exist?

There's these programs and facilities in the United States, where you can send your teenager if they're too wildin'. The kids who get kicked out of multiple schools, sells drugs, screams and fights all the time. Kids with self-destructive behaviors, they gotta get therapy. They gotta heal from their deep hurts and stop spreading around the hurt. 

There's equine therapy, adventure therapy, residential therapy, lock-down facilities, afterschool-outpatient, juvenile detention, crisis response centers, boarding schools and boot camp. But my favorite is wilderness therapy. 

It's a little hippy-dippy, but I really believe in it. The kid will go to the desert with 5 to 9 other teenagers and 2 or 3 adults. After 8-12 weeks of hiking and sleeping under the stars, the kid will find confidence, self-discipline, working with others, mastery over their thoughts, trust in their parents, accountability for their actions, gratitude for modern conveniences, healthy coping mechanisms, and emotional clarity. I've seen tons of kids start out angry and destructive, and by the end of their time in wilderness therapy they're one-with-nature, wise and strong.

I worked as a guide in two different wilderness programs for a total of 40 months. My shift was typically 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off. The longest shift I worked was 22 days. 

The kids came in with different self-destructive behaviors. I'd say about 75% of the kids were dealing and using drugs. A lot of kids were sent there because they were too depressed to function. Lots of kids had ADHD. Some kids had crazy strict parents who freaked out the second their child stepped out of line. And some kids were sent there because they were gay or trans and the parents were hoping to cure them of that. (Of course that last one was unsuccessful lol we love and support trans and gay kids here)

The world of mental health is so unreliable. There's no promises if one type of inpatient will be effective. And like, do we even have a goal? The parents have some goals, "I want my kid to be sober" or "I just want my happy little girl back" but how do you convince a kid to share that goal? Like, realistically, how do you force a kid to be happy and healthy. We do our best, wilderness therapy guides are all saints who give the kids lots of support and love and show them a world where happiness is attainable. The magic of being in nature is pretty effective too. But like, that's all unmeasurable.

There's some research on the effectiveness of wilderness therapy. Like how long do the kids stay sober after completing the program. But this research is all basically guess-work. There's no way to isolate variables and measure sobriety from a very small sample. And each kid is a different story. It's pretty much a leap of faith sending a kid to these programs. I understand the skepticism of the effectiveness, I don't love experimental therapy, especially since 8 weeks is a very long time for a kid.

Then you gotta convince the kid to go. Kids really don't have many rights or the ability to decide where they go. If they run away from home, the cops will find 'em and bring them back home. The kids could ask a local judge for emancipation or call Child Protective Services on their parents and hope to go to a foster home, but that hardly ever works out. It's hard to get emancipated or prove that your home life is unsafe. Really if a parent wants their kid to go to wilderness therapy, the kid doesn't have much choice in the matter. In cases where the parent is really afraid of their kid, they can hire professional kidnappers (in the business we call them "goons") that will wake up a child at 4 in the morning, handcuff them, go on a plane and make the kid sit between them, and then drop them off at a behavioral health inpatient. I don't love the existence of goons, but I understand it when parents feel like they have no other option to get their kid to go to therapy. 

A lot of people recently have asked me about the ethics of wilderness therapy. They've seen on TikTok that wilderness therapy is inherently abusive. I don't love it that people's research on wilderness therapy begins and ends on TikTok. And now I feel like I have to defend the industry I gave 40 months of my life to. I get I have that bias so you have to be skeptical of my praise. But you should be way more skeptical of what you see on TikTok lol. And I don't intend on ever returning to that industry so I don't gain anything from defending it.

The TikTok accusations, government red tape, and inflation have contributed to less enrollment in a few of these programs. It pains me to say Open Sky Wilderness Therapy and Wingate Wilderness Therapy have both shut down recently. They were both great programs. A lot of my friends are out of work now. I've heard many other wilderness therapy programs are really struggling.

Kids with repeated destructive behaviors can't get away with it forever. Eventually they'll expend all their resources and push everyone away and then where will they be? I do respect parents who go to drastic measures to help their kids. 

The existence of "troubled teens" is probably a failure of society. Kids should have some control over their therapeutic journey. I don't think sobriety is a great indication of a healthy kid. Wilderness therapy is not inherently abusive. It's hard, there's working through tons of conflict, but it's very beautiful in the end.

Taking a kid out of a negative environment and putting them in the woods is good. They have lots of time to think, they have challenges to overcome, their destructive behaviors don't serve them anymore, and nature is just heckin' beautiful. 

Love you all.