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The Family Throughout the Therapeutic Wilderness Process: Our Stories

DOI:10.1007/s10591-015-9369-z
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Cynthia Cohen
Cynthia Cohen
Cynthia Cohen
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Lian Zeitz
Lian Zeitz
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Abstract

This article explores the experiences of families that have sent struggling adolescents to therapeutic wilderness programs. We employ a modified case study approach, in which we, the participants, are also observers of the experiences of our entire families. The article begins by explaining what wilderness therapy is and offering an overview of research that has examined the effectiveness of therapeutic wilderness programs. We delineate the process of seeking, selecting and participating in wilderness therapy as well as the role of an educational consultant in facilitating this. We describe our experiences from (1) the time we realized and accepted that our children were struggling and suffering to (2) considering sending our children to wilderness therapy to (3) the stresses of the decision making process to (4) what the experience was like for us including participating in a parent workshop to (5) planning the next steps and discharge, and finally to (6) seeing and living the results over the next few years. Areas of growth and struggle are noted. Our children’s perspectives on our families’ development over time and the interactions among us are also discussed.
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The Family Throughout the Therapeutic Wilderness Process:
Our Stories
Cynthia Cohen
1
•Lian Zeitz
1
Published online: 6 January 2016
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract This article explores the experiences of fami-
lies that have sent struggling adolescents to therapeutic
wilderness programs. We employ a modified case study
approach, in which we, the participants, are also observers
of the experiences of our entire families. The article begins
by explaining what wilderness therapy is and offering an
overview of research that has examined the effectiveness of
therapeutic wilderness programs. We delineate the process
of seeking, selecting and participating in wilderness ther-
apy as well as the role of an educational consultant in
facilitating this. We describe our experiences from (1) the
time we realized and accepted that our children were
struggling and suffering to (2) considering sending our
children to wilderness therapy to (3) the stresses of the
decision making process to (4) what the experience was
like for us including participating in a parent workshop to
(5) planning the next steps and discharge, and finally to (6)
seeing and living the results over the next few years. Areas
of growth and struggle are noted. Our children’s perspec-
tives on our families’ development over time and the
interactions among us are also discussed.
Keywords Alternative therapeutic programs Wilderness
therapy Adolescents Young adults Families
Adolescents lacking motivation Failure to launch School
failure Family dynamics Family therapy Educational
consultants Team approach
‘‘Every time the phone rings, I still think it is the
police’’
- Spoken by a parent several years after his son first
went to a therapeutic wilderness program despite his
son’s success in college and graduate school.
-Anonymous, Pathway Partners Client
‘‘I finally taught myself to stop answering the phone
with ‘What’s the matter?’ whenever my son called.
Instead I learned to accept that all was well and he
was living his life independently with strength. I
realized that he was handling things competently and
I taught myself to see things going well, working out,
and to reinforce the image of my son succeeding.
I even realized that if he were anxious about some-
thing, like writing a paper, I didn’t need to fall apart.’’
-CC
Introduction
The incidence of mental health issues is rising in the United
States, as indicated by various sources. The National
Center for Children in Poverty found that 20 % of ado-
lescents in the United States have a diagnosable mental
disorder (Schwarz 2009). According to the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA) in 2012 an estimated 2.2 million adolescents
aged 12–17 in the U.S. have had at least one major
depressive episode, and there were an estimated 9.6 million
adults aged 18 or older in the U.S. with serious mental
illness (SAMHSA 2013). Environmental challenges that
result from school and learning disabilities, turbulent
households, lack of community, absence of support for
mental health treatment, and stigma of mental health issues
and illness all exacerbate the problems faced by American
&Cynthia Cohen
cynthia@pathwaypartners.info
Lian Zeitz
lianzeitz@gmail.com
1
Pathway Partners, 4 Creamery Road, Great Barrington,
MA 01230, USA
123
Contemp Fam Ther (2016) 38:119–127
DOI 10.1007/s10591-015-9369-z
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