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Founder of Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Asks, Should Troubled Teens Return to School?

Albany, OR (PRWEB) August 10, 2010

The first day of school is just around the corner but for a teenager struggling with behavioral or emotional issues returning to school may not be the answer.

For some parents, the return to school is not something to celebrate. They have a teenager at home who is not responding to parental guidance. So when their teen heads out the door to school there is no guarantee that they will attend classes. Instead they may opt to go hang-out and get high with their buddies.

“This is a difficult situation for parents,” states Psychologist Robert Cooley, Ph.D., founder of Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs (http://www.cfreer.com), who has dedicated his life to working with adolescents. “Many parents are caught between a rock and a hard place. They can’t get their child to attend classes on a regular basis or to put forth any effort when it comes to homework and they are engaging in high-risk behaviors. Parents are trying to work with outpatient counselors and other local resources to help, but their child isn’t responding. This is when out-of-home placement is warranted and wilderness therapy is a great option for these families.”

Wilderness therapy assists troubled teens in identifying the core issues that have stood in the way of their academic accomplishment and overall well-being. Issues range from depression, low self-esteem, defiance, ADHD, substance abuse, attachment disorders, anxiety, mood disorders, to learning differences.

“Teens who participate in a wilderness therapy program return to the classroom with a better understanding of personal accountability, increased self-esteem, and with the motivation to succeed,” explained Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs Clinical Director Katherine Eastlake, LPC, CADC-I.

At the Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs troubled teens take part in a backpacking and adventure expedition that combines the benefits of outdoor living, physical activity, and extensive psychotherapy. Three staff members lead up to eight adolescents on the therapy expedition. One staff member is a master’s level therapist, with drug and alcohol counseling experience, who resides in the field throughout the seven week expedition.

“In a wilderness therapy program teens are removed from their iPods, cell phones, and peers. We take away all distractions and place them in a beautiful natural environment and guide them in the process of personal introspection. We sit them around a campfire in the evenings, after a day filled with fresh air and exercise, and help them to shed their defiance and resistance to treatment and encourage them to understand what is causing them to struggle. We educate them about conflict resolution, anger management, defense mechanisms, and how to deal with grief and loss. We support them in finding inner resources to cope as opposed to self-medicating with substances,” said Cooley.

Clinical research has been published that confirms the efficacy of the wilderness treatment modality. The Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Industry Council (http://www.obhic.com) completed a longitudinal study on the effects of wilderness therapy and it demonstrates that more than 80 percent of parents and 90 percent of graduates’ contacted report that their wilderness treatment experience was effective two years after the process and 83 percent of teens report they are doing better after their expedition.

“You cannot quantify the power of a red-tailed hawk soaring and shrieking above an afternoon therapy group. And, it is difficult to develop an outcome study to measure the confidence boost of a teenager climbing to the top of a windswept ridge. However, wilderness therapy continues to become more recognized and more evidence lends credibility to this therapy as an effective adolescent substance abuse treatment option,” said Eastlake.

About Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs

Catherine Freer is an adolescent treatment program specializing in wilderness therapy. Troubled teens that are acting out behaviorally, experimenting with drugs and alcohol, and/or suffering from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD), or attachment disorders take part in a backpacking and adventure expedition that combines outdoor living, physical activity and extensive psychotherapy. A master’s level therapist with substance abuse counseling experience is a member of the staff team that resides in the field with the adolescents. Opportunities for “in the moment” therapy and individual and group therapy are abundant.

Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs serves approximately 300 adolescents annually. The employee owned and operated company was founded in 1988 and is licensed by the State of Oregon as both a substance abuse and mental health treatment program. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHCO) accredits the program.

The company also operates Santiam Crossing (http://www.santiamcrossing.com), an outdoor therapeutic school and Oregon Transition Homes (oregontransitonhomes.com). For more information, please visit the web site at http://www.http://www.cfreer.com or call (800) 390-3983.

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