Wilderness Programs for Boys

Wilderness Programs, also known as Outdoor Therapy Programs, emphasize therapy and positive behavioral change over discipline. While students must follow strict guidelines to ensure the safety of all participants, nature serves as the ultimate teacher.

Because boys have a difficult time sitting still, getting boys out into the great outdoors can open a door for personal and emotional growth. Counselors can also use "props" found in the wilderness - like gardener snakes or bugs - to drive home a point and keep boys interested.

These Wilderness Programs are typically attended by more boys than girls and these programs offer boys-only groups or groups of just young men.

SUWS of the Carolinas - Old Fort, North Carolina
SUWS of the Carolinas is a therapeutic wilderness program with a focus on clinical intervention and assessment. The program uses the outdoors as an alternative to conventional treatment environments, while engaging students using traditional therapeutic methods. The wilderness setting removes modern distractions, simplifies choices and teaches valuable lessons. As a result, students begin to accept responsibility for personal decisions, address individual and family issues, and become invested in their own personal growth. Since 1981, SUWS programs have provided essential guidance and support to thousands of misdirected and at-risk adolescents. SUWS of the Carolinas specializes in the assessment and treatment of students ages 13-17.

SUWS Adolescent Program - Southern Idaho
SUWS Adolescent specializes in helping struggling teens ages 14-17 with behavioral and emotional problems. Operating in southern Idaho since 1981, SUWS has assisted young people with identifying and working through internal conflicts and emotional obstacles that have kept them from responding to parental efforts, schools, and treatment. These are children who are inherently good and have the ability to be successful, but because of unhealthy misperceptions about themselves, they have limited access to their own abilities and strengths. SUWS wilderness programs provide families with a safe and immediate intervention by utilizing its search and rescue metaphor, individualized treatment plans, and flexible length of stay. The outdoor environment and experiential learning help students recognize and build upon their own sense of self-worth as they learn the value of helping others. For younger children, see SUWS YOUTH listing below.

Four Circles Recovery Center - North Carolina
Four Circles Recovery Center for older teens and young adults ages 18-28 is an innovative addictions, substance abuse and co-occuring mental health disorders treatment program that combines a traditional counseling setting with extensive wilderness experiences. Four Circles employs the most effective, cutting-edge clinical modalities with an underlying traditional 12-step philosophy to create the foundation for sustained recovery.

We are located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, just 15 minutes from Asheville, NC. The pristine wilderness of the Carolinas serves as a dramatic and beautiful backdrop for your recovery.

Adirondack Leadership Expeditions - Upstate New York
Adirondack Leadership Expeditions is a character development wilderness program for troubled teens that promotes personal growth through a focus on insight-oriented experiences. The forested, mountain setting removes urban distractions and simplifies options to help students gain insight into their core values and accept responsibility for their choices. Our program's nurturing approach helps participants address personal issues, achieve success in a safe environment, and develop their leadership potential. Set in the beautiful Adirondack mountains near Saranac Lake, New York, our leadership expeditions offer individualized growth plans, flexible lengths of stay, master's and doctorate level counselors, individual counseling, and a powerful family involvement component.

Aspen Achievement Academy - Loa, Utah
Located in Southern Utah, Aspen Achievement Academy is a flexible length of stay program for adolescents 13-17, emphasizing therapy, experiential learning and behavioral change. As one of the few licensed and accredited outdoor treatment programs, AAA has a decade of history in providing high impact professional staffed treatment to adolescents and their families. As a clinically based program , Aspen Achievement Academy is contracted with a number of insurance companies and EAP's to provide treatment for mental health and substance abuse.

SUWS Youth Programs - Southern Idaho
Working with the distinctive needs of 11-13 year olds, the minimum 28-day SUWS Youth Wilderness Program offers a highly structured environment that provides each child with a positive and rewarding learning experience. The concrete thinking inherent in this age group requires tangible learning experiences from which to build. Our base camp model provides safety, security and predictability. The program's high staff-to-student ratio and personalized treatment plans ensure emotional growth and increased awareness of self and others. Unique in that the Youth Program uses llamas in the therapeutic process, a child has the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in developing responsibility and care-giving skills. Twenty-eight day courses begin every week.

Outback Therapeutic Expeditions - Lehi, Utah
Outback's Wilderness Program for youth ages 13-17 blends the best of the "ancient cultural systems" with the most effective and proven therapeutic processes. Many of our students have been experiencing family conflict, been involved in negative peer groups, were isolating themselves, or were focusing excessive time on computers. Some have been struggling academically, have low self-esteem, may be abusive toward their parents and siblings, or may be experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Others are bright but underachieving. Your child will experience the highest standards of safety and therapy in the context of one of the most powerful settings for real change - the wilderness. Students can earn academic credit while in the program.

SUWS Seasons - Old Fort, North Carolina
Seasons is the SUWS of the Carolinas program for younger teens ages 11 -13. SUWS Seasons is a licensed, clinically focused wilderness treatment program for younger children designed to identify the limiting beliefs and unhealthy behaviors that often can prevent the pursuit of constructive goals and personal achievement.

Research and developmental psychology indicates that 11 to 13 year-olds have very specific needs: primarily safety, security, and predictability. Pre-adolescent children and younger teens think in concrete terms and require tangible experiences from which to build.

Talisman Camps & Programs - North Carolina, Washington, Oregon, and New York
Talisman Camps & Programs now offer year-round programs. Their many summer camp programs cater to youth, ages 9-17, with issues such as attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities, Asperger's Syndrome, and high-functioning autism who would excel in a residential program that focuses on establishing positive routines and provides diverse daily activities. Our activities provide a fun environment in which campers can develop self-esteem, trust in self and others, and the basics of good decision-making. All activities are designed in a "build-up" situation. Through a group process we focus on how an individual's actions affect the group as a whole. Programs are designed with each individual child's special needs in mind. All programs include most of the following activities: high ropes course, rock climbing, tubing, white water rafting, tree climbing, hiking, backpacking, swimming. We believe that the skills learned during our programming will later transfer to home, school, and in other social settings.