Background: Wilderness therapy (WT) has become a popular method of intervention with youth residing in residential facilities (RFs), and an important part of their treatment plan. Thus, the dual positioning and role of RF staff members - who both accompany participants on the WT journey and, at the same time, participate in their on-site, daily…

Background: Considering the sensitive ethical issues related to involuntary treatment of adolescents, research investigating youth transport practices and treatment outcomes is clearly needed. Youth transport is common practice in many private pay programs, including wilderness therapy programs. Objective: This study of 350 adolescents in…

Outdoor experiential education has often been critiqued for its White, male, middle/upper-class, able-bodied history, thereby causing professionals and programs to consider issues of social justice. This state of knowledge paper will review the literature on social and environmental justice, identify gaps in current social justice literature and…

This article seeks to provide a review of the theoretical and empirical literature in the field of wilderness therapy, the intent of which is to gain a greater conceptual understanding of the importance of the physical environment in therapeutic intervention. A review and consolidation of the existing literature reveal that the theories used to…

Though wilderness therapy programs are growing in number and popularity, the theoretical basis for distinguishing wilderness therapy from traditional therapeutic modalities is lacking. Existing models describing the wilderness therapy process have been stage-based, meaning the process has been conceptualized as sequential and discrete. Lost in…

Interviews and a literature review found that outdoor recreation contributes significantly to Scotland's tourist income, particularly in rural areas; outdoor education centers are significant employers in certain rural areas; the provision of outdoor education by secondary schools has decreased in the last 20 years; and therapeutic outdoor…

The integrated ecology program at World Peace University (Washington) uses a therapeutic approach to environmental awareness that enables participants to connect with nature and fill the sensory voids that encourage apathy, dysfunction, and dependencies. Suggests personal difficulties result from the difference between how nature works and the way…

Outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH) is an emerging mental health intervention/treatment to help adolescents overcome emotional, psychological, and addiction problems. Currently, over 100 OBH programs in the United States use elements of wilderness therapy to address adolescents' problem behaviors and foster responsibility and personal growth.…

Contemporary society has trained us to prejudicially view and fear the sensual and nature as an enemy, villain, or child that must be developed, improved, or managed. By learning and teaching the Natural Systems Thinking Process, we may reverse destructive thinking by letting nature itself help us bring sensations and their integrity back into our…

The Fresh Start Program was an experiment in providing a comprehensive educational and therapeutic program for sexually abused and exploited adolescents. The program was based on the theory and practice of experiential, outdoor-challenge adventure education. The experiment involved 16 youth in a living and learning environment in the north woods…

A 1979 external evaluation of the Eckerd Wilderness Educational System (a series of 9 residential, therapeutic camps for disturbed youth in 3 eastern states) drew data from 3 sources: records of the first 1,385 youth entered into the camps from 1968 through November 1979, test results from the most recent 157 clients who completed both entry and…

Describes a private, therapeutic, boarding school in Montana. Clinically trained therapists and educators combine a rigorous academic curriculum, outdoor and adventure education activities, and a five-phase emotional growth curriculum to help emotionally troubled adolescents aged 14-18 deal with their problems and maintain their educational level.…

An innovative therapeutic use of the wilderness environment was explored. A purely recreational outdoor camping program organized in 1971 for economically deprived youths subsequently developed into an outdoor therapeutic program designed for problem youth. The wilderness environment was employed as an effective treatment milieu for helping youths…

Those in the field of wilderness-adventure therapy (WAT) have come a long way in their attitude toward research, but their methodology has lagged behind their enthusiasm. This paper examines the literature in the field of wilderness adventure therapy for delinquent and pre-delinquent youth in order to evaluate the current state of research. The…