Wilderness Camps for Troubled Teens

Wilderness programs use the influence of nature to help troubled youth work through their issues in a constructive way. The power of nature over the human mind and emotions is undeniable. Being in nature can create utter terror or complete calm in the human psyche, depending on the situation in which we face it and the mindset with which we approach it. Being deep in the wilderness lends troubled youths these emotional experiences, and it also helps them by temporarily cutting them off from the media, friends, and family members who are constantly sending them negative messages.

Because of the nature of a wilderness program, troubled youth are also thrown into small groups. While it's easy to hide in a classroom of twenty or thirty kids, there's no escaping relationships in a group of just eight or ten other teenagers or young adults. The small group dynamic is essential to good wilderness programs, as it forces troubled youths to interact with other people on a regular basis. Ideally, by the end of the program, troubled youths will have healed in part by forming close friendships with peers who understand them; friendships like these can often hold steady over the years, lending troubled youths a support group that goes with them - at least through email and the phone - wherever they go.

A wilderness program uses nature and interactions with a small group to heal troubled youths, but what are the actual goals of such programs? Different programs approach troubled teens in different ways, so they won't all be the same. They will probably, though, have some similar goals, including leadership training, survival skills learning, and introspection.
Often troubled youths are troubled in part because they aren't being challenged. Lack of challenge leads to boredom, which can lead to acting out, especially in teenagers. Wilderness programs seek to counteract this by challenging troubled youths to take up the mantle of leadership during their time in the wild.
Wandering through the woods for a few weeks, one can hardly help but learn some survival skills. This is another way in which wilderness programs seek to challenge troubled youths. Besides presenting a challenge, this helps give youths confidence because they know that they can do things very few people know how to do.

Many wilderness programs give youths plenty of alone time and require that they keep a journal. The disconnection from cell phones, television, and internet can help breed the type of introspection rarely found in young adults these days, helping troubled youths to work through their issues by simply getting to know themselves.