Wilderness leaves it’s print.

US Wilderness treatment is arguably an emerging therapeutic approach designed to help young people overcome challenges of relational, parenting, emotional behavior, and substance disorders with limited positive research implications.

Wilderness does leave a successful print in young people’s lives. Never have I had a young person not thank me for the experience of helping to change their life.

The US alone serves as the international center for wilderness treatment located in such States as Utah and Oregon, North Carolina. At RedCliff Ascent in Utah, a case study was conducted by myself, a US & UK Chartered Psychologist, and Steven DeMille, a doctoral candidate focused on a British youth struggling with emotional and identify formation who was sent by his parents to participate in wilderness therapy for a number of weeks.

The conclusion? The UK youth and family emerged with improved overall functioning (e.g, new hope, tools, and strategies) promoting a successful future with continuing family work with UK therapist. The full article appears in NATSAP’s 2015 Spring journal, entitled, “A Theoretically Anchored and Multi-Modal Treatment Approach in an Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Program.” http://tinyurl.com/njeolbe.

I’m humbled and honored in speaking to the United Kingdom & European Symposium on Addictive Disorders (UKESAD) here in London May 4th. In considering my decades in the field of experiential treatment, I honed in on ‘wilderness therapy’ as the focus of my talk, to reveal a type of treatment for addiction not as customary or known to those professionals, liaisons, and non-professionals working within the addiction field.

That said many, many young people in particular become sober and clean in a somewhat ‘dirty’ setting of the wilderness. My colleagues at Four Circles, Sierra Tucson, Wingate Wilderness have sponsored this presentation with their contributions. Special thanks to Shayne Gallagher who assisted me by taking on a piece of the presentation by himself, and did ‘fabulous’. Four Circles’ new clinical director, Kelly Wedell provided me with the 12 step snapshot of their program.

This work in addiction and recovery is collaborative, and that carries over from the urban to the rural to the wilderness setting. Why wilderness? No distractions, no interference with the recovery process. I hope you enjoyed my talk here in London.

In 1969, Dr. Haim Ginott came up with the concept of the helicopter parent who ‘hovers’ over their child in moving through their academic life. Today, it’s mushroomed into the crazy notion of parents who monitor their offspring in every imaginable faction of life: Friends, family, school and university life, occupational choice, no place is too far off distance. The helicopter parent manages the life of their children in many positive ways. However well managed, there is a down side. What gets lost is the chance for a young person to falter, to even fail, and learning from her or his own mistakes.

Psychology tells us that the individual will not develop and transition into adulthood without taking responsibility for themselves, without self reliance. For a child to individuate, that is to become a healthy individual, she or he needs to see themselves as a ethical and smart person– using their own judgment to make decisions, and if a parent is making all of those day-to-day decisions for them, then they can’t individuate and become a healthy adult.

I have found that many times the parent’s role is misconstrued to mean a partner rather than an instructor. It isn’t a joint life the parent & child are living, it’s a singular one for each to enjoy together from time to time. Unfortunately, helicopter parenting leads to failure to launch to adulthood, addiction, and other stunting of development. It can create so much anxiety for kids that they become unsure and afraid to do anything, and don’t trust their own instincts.

Dr Burdick helps families to learn how to individuate by recommending programs. Summer programs, camps and such are fantastic opportunities for kids to find themselves, leaving parents behind to enjoy their own summer. They bond with other kids and adults to learn from each other how to grow up successfully. Boarding schools also are unique in this way. If parents follow the basic rule of thumb of stepping back and letting the children do it on their own, even if they fail, they can learn important life lessons.

It isn’t every day that we’re invited to meet with the Ambassador of den Hague Tim Broas and the Chamberlain International School group. But, in many ways it’s easy to see why education to special needs families is as important in the Netherlands as it is in the US. Recent legislation in the EU requires schools, both public and private to provide educational and treatment alternatives. That’s why we’re here.

As educators, clinicians and experts in courts, laws require funding to make things better for the underserved and at risk populations. This year, we have traveled throughout the EU and UK in speaking to professional, legal, and parent groups about increasing familiarity with US and regional resources offering treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, psychological assessment & therapeutic treatment, and educational alternatives.

We are proud to be identified as true international treatment and educational planners, and take this role very serious in traveling throughout the world to make it happen in an ethical and effective way. We hope we can help find the ‘right fit’ for your family’s needs.

From the Netherlands….