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Reply to "Therapeutic Wilderness Schools - Any Insights?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Without commenting on the therapeutic side of things, a major concern I have is on the physical medical side of things, which WT and RTC are not equipped to deal with.

Many kids on WT develop things like giarda, pinworms, and untreated UTIs because of the conditions and how they are dealt with.  Physical ailments generally are treated as attention seeking behavior. The same in RTC, causing delays in needed medical attention, which are worse in WT because of remoteness.

Do not send your child to WT or RTC unless you are 100% sure they are in tiptop medical and physical condition.  Even then, caveat emptor.[/quote]

I have quite a bit of experience with RTC and we did not find this to be true at all. My DC had daily interactions with a nurse and almost daily with a physician. Every physical issue was managed professionally and proactively. You can't paint all programs with such a broad brush which is exactly why this discussion *could* be helpful to parents in need.[/quote]

It would be helpful if you posted the program.  I had a child with medical issues and used a consultant, and they felt only one RTC could deal with her epilepsy, which is not an uncommon illness.  I was otherwise unimpressed by the RTC's wherewithal.

A psychiatrist is not the type of physician I would want dealing with physical medical conditions; way too many of these think somatic problems are symptoms of mental illness.[/quote]

I am a PP who sent my kid to a RTC that was a hybrid of WT and RTC. In all of my research I didn’t find any programs who could handle a medically complicated kid. I found tons who could handle medical issues, but I don’t know about epilepsy.

The program we used had a nurse on staff daily including weekends. They met daily in addition to medication administration time. They also had weekly psychiatric appointments. Therapists (trained masters and doctorate level) were there daily including holidays from the morning into the evening. Most were extensively trained in the area of trauma. There were daily therapy sessions plus groups. For other medical issues, they had a relationship with a local doctor. My kid didn’t need that so I don’t have personal experience with how that worked. The nonpsychiatric med that they took was just refilled by the regular pediatrician.

My kid also went to school. The total length of treatment was 6 months and they did not fall behind educationally, even graduating on time despite an additional at least 8 months hospitalized where there was no school. [/quote]

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