Background

In the early years of its existence, TCFS' work with groups of youth was a cornerstone of the agency's service profile. One of the most successful group approaches then used was wilderness camping and canoe trips. Popularized during the past decade by Outward Bound, Inc., wilderness challenge programs have proven to be a highly effective mechanism for helping youth develop the ego strengths and social skills they need to successfully confront the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives.

Over the years a number of factors, including a broadening of the agency's treatment philosophy and an increased demand for adult services, has resulted in a shift away from group-oriented youth services. Most of our work with pre-teens and teens now occurs within the context of our work with their families. However, the traditional modalities of individual and family counseling cannot replace peer-group work as a means of impacting the growth and development of struggling teens.

During the summer of 1990, TCFS had the opportunity to conduct a pilot wilderness experience which was funded by the St. Charles 708 Community Health Board. The model developed for that inaugural program proved quite successful in terms of identifying and impacting upon the group of teens we have targeted for the program. In response to the demand from school social service personnel in the Geneva and Batavia school districts, the program was opened to students from those communities beginning in 1991, and is currently available to teens from the agency's seven township service area.

Program Description


With financial support from both local public and private funding sources, the Wilderness Challenge Program (WCP) is made available each year, on a full or partial scholarship basis, to 18-24 graduating eighth graders from the middle schools within our service area. Both males and females are invited to apply.

Students selected for the program are typically referred by school personnel, other health care providers or parents. Appropriate candidates for this wilderness therapy program include those teens, ages 13-15 considered to be in need of developing the social skills, self-confidence and ego strengths necessary to make a successful transition to high school life.

Applicants referred to the program are invited to participate in a screening process in early May. This process includes three components: a group interview, a teams course program (group problem-solving challenges in an outdoor education center), and a swim test. Teens selected for the program must:

* attend and participate in all three screening components. (Note: teams course program and swim test will be held on same day);

* be accompanied to the group interview by at least one parent;

* submit all required paperwork, including physical exam reports, required consents and parental waivers by announced deadlines;

* demonstrate a willingness to work cooperatively peers;

* be willing and able identify and sincerely commit to working on self-improvement goals;

* be willing and able to undertake the physical challenges associated with canoeing and camping for six days and five nights in a remote wilderness area.

Applicants who: 1) are determined to be actively abusing drugs or alcohol; 2) demonstrate patterns of poor anger management, behavioral problems, or other delinquent behaviors that would pose a risk to others, or a legal risk to the program; or, 3) cannot willingly and voluntarily commit to the therapeutic goals of the program, will not be accepted for participation.

Occasionally, the number of eligible applicants each year exceeds the number of participant slots available from each of the communities served. Assuming all applicants have fulfilled the above minimum criteria, the final selection of participants will be based upon the WCP staff evaluation of those applicants who demonstrate the strongest potential for benefiting from the program.

The eight-day wilderness experience, usually occurring in mid-June or early July, is led by two agency therapists who have had extensive experience in planning and guiding trips of this nature. Each year they are assisted on the trip by six additional adult volunteer or agency staff.

All aspects of this trip, from the planning, to the canoeing, portaging, and required orienteering will be designed to develop what Robert Godfrey of Outward Bound, Inc., has referred to as a high degree of "intimacy and unavoidable interdependency", a unique social context within which these young people will have the opportunity to develop self-confidence and the skills necessary to manage the all-important balance between meeting their own needs and those of their peer groups.

Temporarily removed from the daily distractions and pressures of life in their home communities, the program participants experience the wilderness setting as a laboratory and testing ground. By design and through "Mother Nature's" own challenges, participants are constantly confronted with stretching their own limits. In doing so, they become aware of previously untapped physical, mental, and emotional capabilities. Facing new challenges personally and as members of a group, they learn new communication and problem-solving skills, discover how to handle their negative feelings more effectively, and inevitably, develop new friendships.

For the staff, teachable moments occur continuously. Experienced staff who are thoroughly briefed as to each participant's unique needs, routinely provide feedback to participants regarding counter-productive individual and group attitudes, values, and behaviors. As appropriate, new healthy attitudes and life skills are taught, modeled, and reinforced. This includes informal, but age appropriate, discussions on alcohol and drugs.

Whether the learning experiences are included in the daily schedule (e.g., morning and evening meetings at the campsite), or arise spontaneously, (e.g. struggling through a difficult portage) staff constantly help participants appreciate how new found skills and confidence can help them successfully confront the challenges of making the transition to high school life.

By the time participants and their family members meet with staff for a post-trip evaluation session, the teens will have spent a minimum of 175 hours together in planning, preparing and successfully meeting the challenges of the trip.

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