Therapeutic Wilderness Schools - Any Insights?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Amen. May you never have to be in the shoes I wear. There are so many amazing programs that have saved many lives. Open Sky, Blue Ridge, Second Nature, SUWS, Outback, True North just to name a few. And yes, Trails. It stinks to have to consider these. I live a daily hell because of my child's mental illness. The residential programs around here are AWFUL. And that includes Children's and Sheppard Pratt.



+1. My friend last year sent her child to inpatient psych in SALT LAKE CITY because there were no beds anywhere on the east coast that took her insurance (BCBS!). Even the state mental hospital which is several hours away and HORRIBLE was not accepting patients.

Some of you just have no clue. No clue. If you haven't had a child who needs serious help in the DC area, you have no idea the paucity and low quality of the available resources.
Anonymous
^^^And BTW< that hospital that took her insurance required a cash deposit of some enormous sum (30,000 I think) in case the insurance didn't cover the bills. Who can afford that?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Amen. May you never have to be in the shoes I wear. There are so many amazing programs that have saved many lives. Open Sky, Blue Ridge, Second Nature, SUWS, Outback, True North just to name a few. And yes, Trails. It stinks to have to consider these. I live a daily hell because of my child's mental illness. The residential programs around here are AWFUL. And that includes Children's and Sheppard Pratt.



+1. My friend last year sent her child to inpatient psych in SALT LAKE CITY because there were no beds anywhere on the east coast that took her insurance (BCBS!). Even the state mental hospital which is several hours away and HORRIBLE was not accepting patients.

Some of you just have no clue. No clue. If you haven't had a child who needs serious help in the DC area, you have no idea the paucity and low quality of the available resources.


I’m really not sure why this is not getting through. The fact that mental health services are hard to find for kids does NOT mean that abusive, non-therepeutic programs are an appropriate alternative. It’s not helping your kid to send them to a program that will leave them worse off, unless your only goal is to get them out of your house (maybe it is?).
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:^^^And BTW< that hospital that took her insurance required a cash deposit of some enormous sum (30,000 I think) in case the insurance didn't cover the bills. Who can afford that?


how much do you think “wilderness therapy” costs?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Amen. May you never have to be in the shoes I wear. There are so many amazing programs that have saved many lives. Open Sky, Blue Ridge, Second Nature, SUWS, Outback, True North just to name a few. And yes, Trails. It stinks to have to consider these. I live a daily hell because of my child's mental illness. The residential programs around here are AWFUL. And that includes Children's and Sheppard Pratt.


wow somehow you know that all those wilderness therapy programs have “saved many lives,” yet the actual therepeutic programs in this area are all “awful.” interesting.
Anonymous
I'm not really sure why this is not getting through. There are some amazing wilderness programs out there that have saved people's lives. The facilities in this area are awful. Parents who make these decisions do not do it easily. We really don't WANT to be in the spot we are in. Your holier than thou condescending know-it-all attitude reeks with a lack of compassion or understanding.
Anonymous
And why you are trusting the opinion of a mentally ill troubled teen over the parents/professionals, etc....I do not know.....My child went to a TBS. He may tell you it was traumatic to him. But that is a part of his illness. He interprets any form of criticism as trauma. He is a highly sensitive person and has to learn to live in a world where we are not always full of complements. Was the school perfect for him? No. Did we find out more about what makes him tick. You betcha. Warrior parents struggle with decisions and the ramifications of those decisions with every breath. Your sanctimonious diatribe against wilderness programs really means nothing to us. It is ill-informed and judgemental.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:And why you are trusting the opinion of a mentally ill troubled teen over the parents/professionals, etc....I do not know.....My child went to a TBS. He may tell you it was traumatic to him. But that is a part of his illness. He interprets any form of criticism as trauma. He is a highly sensitive person and has to learn to live in a world where we are not always full of complements. Was the school perfect for him? No. Did we find out more about what makes him tick. You betcha. Warrior parents struggle with decisions and the ramifications of those decisions with every breath. Your sanctimonious diatribe against wilderness programs really means nothing to us. It is ill-informed and judgemental.


oh ffs. “warrior parents.” wow. this screams narcissism. gl to your son - hopefully he can get away from you soon.
Anonymous
Far from narcissism. I have given thousands of hours and dollars to help my child. Anxiety, depression, school refusal, short term residential (tried it before wilderness), wilderness, TBS, PHP programs. Tried it all.....I have always put my child first. I am hoping he can get away from me too, but the reality is he does not have the coping skills to survive on his own. You have no clue. You have done nothing to give yourself any credibility. Those of us who have been thru it know the battle. You just share unvetted news articles....
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Far from narcissism. I have given thousands of hours and dollars to help my child. Anxiety, depression, school refusal, short term residential (tried it before wilderness), wilderness, TBS, PHP programs. Tried it all.....I have always put my child first. I am hoping he can get away from me too, but the reality is he does not have the coping skills to survive on his own. You have no clue. You have done nothing to give yourself any credibility. Those of us who have been thru it know the battle. You just share unvetted news articles....


so somehow we’re supposed to believe that wilderness therapy alone among all the other admittedly failed therapies is effective, despite all the evidence against them?
Anonymous
FYI someone is now flagging and getting deleted articles critical of wilderness therapy — really terrible first hand accounts of physical and mental abuse. Telling.
Anonymous
Wilderness was the place my son was happiest....
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