ELEMENTS OF CHANGE
Community-Nature-Wellbeing-Therapy
The Wilderness is a setting that is rich with metaphor and potential for students to expand insight and increase confidence. It naturally offers opportunities to experiment with new and healthier ways of coping with the inevitable social and emotional stressors of life. Our program relies on four key elements to promote awareness and growth: Community, Nature, Wellbeing, and Therapy.
- Community
- Nature
- Wellbeing
- Therapy
Community
One of the most powerful sources of support, insight and change is the community of students and staff that work and live together. They learn how to cooperate and support the physical and emotional wellbeing of each student. The group becomes an emotionally safe environment where students become more honest and accountable for feelings and behavior patterns. Students tend to replicate the relationship patterns from home within the group. While living together, students learn about their respective behaviors and relationship patterns. Through enhanced awareness, students practice and refine new and healthier skills for interacting and cooperating with others. Specifically:
- Students work together to meet the daily challenges of living in the outdoors
- Students use assertive communication to give and receive valuable feedback to/from peers and adults
- Senior students support, encourage, and mentor newer students
- Students also use assertive communication skills to identify and share feelings with staff and peers
- Students participate in gender specific groups which allow exploration of age appropriate development and identity
- Each Student will be assigned a field mentor that is required to understand and facilitate the individualized treatment needs of that student
- Students learn to trust and cooperate with authority figures through collective goal setting and participation.
- Students are involved in service projects within the outdoor environment
Nature
Nature provides an intrinsic opportunity for students to understand the impact their 
behaviors have on themselves and others. Nature rewards effort, perseverance, and patience and discourages impulsive problem solving. Students naturally gain confidence and self esteem as they master various outdoor living skills. Nature provides a setting free of distractions where students can easily gain insight and clarity. Living in nature often inspires students to define and connect with the spiritual aspects of their recovery. While living in the outdoors, students:
- Learn and practice outdoor living skills, such as, building shelters, preparing food, and making fires
- Use problem solving techniques to maneuver through environmental challenges
- Live free from drugs, media, toxic relationships, and other societal stressors.
- Students can participate in daily personal reflective time, journaling, and/or meditation
- Elements is not a survival based program
Wellbeing
Elements consider physical wellbeing to be an integral part of a student's success and recovery. Many emotional and psychological disorders have a correlative relationship to imbalances of physical wellbeing. Prior to arriving at Elements Wilderness Program, most students have neglected their physical health which contributes significantly to their emotional and behavioral unrest. Elements is passionate about restoring a student's wellbeing.
- Students regularly exercise through hiking 2-5 miles several days per week,
- Staff facilitate regular therapeutic experiential activities and play time
- Elements provides a healthy, well balanced, and assorted diet
- Students return to healthy sleep patterns based on Nature's clock
- Elements does not operate from deprivation model
Therapy
Traditional therapeutic principles and techniques are also a vital part of the Elements program. The therapist is the head of each student's treatment team and guides students, field mentors, and parents in developing and executing an individualized treatment plan. The Therapist assists students and parents to understand behavior patterns and progress in treatment areas in the context of wilderness therapy. The therapist also collaborates with parents and other professionals in aftercare planning. Important parts of the Therapy element include:
- With the support of the field mentors, therapist will accurately assess each students needs
- In cooperation with the student and parents, the therapist will develop an individualized treatment plan
- Each student will participate in a weekly individual therapy session
- Each student will participate in a weekly group therapy session facilitated by the therapist and will also participate in daily group counseling facilitated by the highly skilled mentor staff
- Therapists conduct a weekly conference call to update parents on student's progress and provide support and direction for parental participation
- Students are encouraged to practice new skills with their family members through weekly letter writing
- When students have reached a sufficient level of insight and accountability, Students will periodically have family therapy sessions via phone calls from the field
- We can provide psychological and educational evaluations to aid in the accurate assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning of each student
- Therapists will work closely with families, referral sources, and educational consultants in after care planning