Wilderness Programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is one poster here who has not been in this situation with their own child and continues to call people who have nonsensical. OP, I hope you got useful information. I’m not going to keep engaging with this person and I encourage others to do the same.

I'm with you. I'm out. OP---good luck getting the help you need. If you want to hear more reasoned responses, please join the WTRS FB group. We share the good and the bad.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:No local mental health day program wouls take my kid because she wouldnt attend voluntarily. She didnt qualify for a psych bed---once we boarded in the ER for four days waiting for a bed and the only thing abailable was the state
hospital in Staunton, which chemically restrains kids with heavy antipsychotics and discharges ASAP. Our county was wiling to pay for RTC but no one would take her. We didn't do wilderness but if you haven't been in a place where there is literally no help for your child, you have no idea.

I'm really sorry. I've had struggles with my kid but know it could be much worse. Hugs.

I would love the pp who is anti-wilderness could share some of the great alternatives available to this family. Please, share.

In my brother’s case, he literally just needed a parent to pay attention to him. Possibly individual therapy. That’s it.

And you are being totally illogical here. Just because you feel there are no other alternatives does not make an abusive quasi-imprisonment ok.

The point is that just because one program was abusive does not mean an entire industry is bad.

And, if you are right that your brother just needed attention, then it might not have been the right placement for him. But I honestly can’t imagine a sibling actually understanding the reasons for such a complicated decision and you might be minimizing your brother’s situation and blaming your parents unfairly because you miss him. I am sure that my other kids don’t know the entirety of the circumstances and events that led to me placing my son. That would have been too big of a burden for them to carry.

At this point, concluding that the “troubled teen” industry is uniformly bad is totally reasonable. That doesn’t mean there are not good wilderness programs like Outward Bound and Nolls, and medically appropriate residential therepeutic centers. But yeah, any program that has the following characteristics is bad:

- children sent against their will
- children physically restrained
- children not given physical privacy
- children not allowed to communicate freely with parents
- a “tough love” or group-confrontation like approach
- absence of correct ratio of mental health professionals
- physical punishment/discomfort used as a purported therepeutic tool
- no accounts of abusive behavior online

and of course, your are 100% wrong about my brother.

Well let’s see…my kid has spent time at Shephard Pratt—one of the most renowned mental health hospitals.

children sent against their will—-yes this happens at SP. Children/teens don’t want to go there
- children physically restrained—-yes this happens at SP. Staff are trained how to do this safely
- children not given physical privacy—-yes this happens at SP. When you are a danger to yourself and others, observation is important
- children not allowed to communicate freely with parents—-yes this happens at SP. From my sons perspective, he was not allowed to freely communicate with me—-there are phone call hours when communication is allowed.
- a “tough love” or group-confrontation like approach —-yes this happens at SP. Being accountable for your actions is part of accepting that you have a part in your behavior
- absence of correct ratio of mental health professionals—-ha ha ha. Every facility that supports mental health is faced with this issue
- physical punishment/discomfort used as a purported therepeutic tool—again this is similar to your phone call requirement. Kids in these programs are properly outfitted. Sure, camping is less comfortable than a bed but that doesn’t mean it’s bad
- no accounts of abusive behavior online—-right—because everything you read online is true

I’m still waiting for someone to post the options available to parents that have tried all the traditional modalities. Since you feel so strongly that WT is inappropriate, list the alternatives. I won’t make you go back to pg 5 so I’ll list what I’ve tried again—-community based therapy, inpatient, IOP, PHP, wrap around service, and therapeutic boarding school.

Shephard Pratt is a hospital in this area. Not a poorly regulated “wilderness therapy program” halfway across the country.

Correct. And that is my point. A highly regarded, regulated mental health hospital has all of the criteria that PP says are unacceptable.

Shephard Pratt is completely different. It does not use punishment/physical discomfort as a therapeutic tool; it is staffed by doctors; it does not isolate children; it provides medication management.

According to my kid, they did use punishment/physical discomfort. My kid was 7 during his first stay. He was punished for not taking a shower. He didn't take a shower because he didn't know how to turn it on. He didn't know how to turn it on because he was 7! I disagreed with how this was handled but I'm not posting that they unfairly punished my child. Because they put him in the quiet room for non compliance does not mean this is a poorly run program. The children and teen ward is staffed by 2 MD--only one of which is on duty on any given day and there is 1 MD on call over the weekend. Yes, there is seclusion and restraint there.

My kid does not like physical exercise. Yesterday we did a volunteer activity that required standing. After 30 min, he was complaining that his legs hurt. He certainly was not experiencing any physical discomfort yet he felt he was. The kids that go to WT are outfitted appropriately. It is not a luxurious environment and for most kids, it is different than anything they have ever experienced. That does not mean it is physically discomforting.

That was wrong of Shephard Pratt, if true.