Outward Bound

Wilderness adventure programs worldwide, ages 12-22

USA and some international locations

Established in 1962

Outward Bound continues to be the premier provider of experience-based outdoor leadership programs. With over 300 adventure-based courses year-round, all across the US, to choose from serving youth, starting at age 12, teens and adults. Course activities include rock climbing, sea kayaking, backpacking, mountaineering, canyoneering, sailing, dog sledding, canoeing and whitewater rafting, and more, in some of the most beautiful and inspiring wilderness ...read moreareas across the nation. No matter the activity, courses focus on learning through experience, compassion, leadership, outdoor skills and responsibility to both your community and the environment. Courses range in length from Classic week-long courses to Gap Year Semester courses. Some scholarships and financial aid may be available.

Challenge, adventure and teamwork combine to create an ideal platform for building character and teaching leadership. Simply put, Outward Bound courses change lives.

-Second Nature Cascades

Wilderness Therapy Program

Bend, OR

Established in 2005

Second Nature Cascades is a licensed treatment program that uses the wilderness setting in a clinically focused intervention to teach students accountability, communication skills, and health, emotional and behavioral habits. Treatment plans are individualized for each student and include flexible lengths of stay, single gender treatment groups, daily group therapy, and individualized therapy sessions with master's and doctorate level therapists ...read moretwice weekly.

Second Nature Cascades works with students ages 13 to 18 with a range of emotional and behavioral issues including Depression, learning Differences, Oppositional Defiance, Attention Deficit, Substance Abuse and Attachment Disorders. Typical students fail to respond to limits and rules, act entitled, choose the wrong friends, underachieve, have low self-esteem, experience a decline in academic performance, and may be experiencing parent-child conflict.

-Aspiro

Wilderness Therapy Program

Mount Pleasant, UT

Established in 2005

Aspiro is licensed by the state of Utah as a youth treatment program. While Aspiro is classified as a wilderness program, the term "Wilderness Adventure Therapy" (WAT) more accurately describes our approach. Aspiro is a 6-8 week, clinically sophisticated, high-impact intervention designed to help struggling youth develop self-respect, experience healing, and return to basic core values. Students benefit from a highly effective, solution-focused ...read moreapproach through a combination of individual, group, and adventure therapy. WAT Programs combine best practices from traditional Wilderness Therapy and High Adventure Therapy.

Aspiro works with participants 13-17 years of age with gender-specific groups. Vantage Point by Aspiro works with the same ages, but participants often exhibit more significant learning, social, cognitive, psychological and
developmental challenges. Kairos by Aspiro works with young adults ages 18-28. Common behaviors and concerns include family conflict, manipulation,depression, substance use or abuse, low self-esteem, oppositional behavior, entitlement, mild learning differences, anxiety, school failure, and negative peer relationships.

-Passages To Recovery

Wilderness Therapy Program

Loa, UT

Established in 2000

Passages To Recovery is a clinically integrated 12 Step treatment for young adult men. We are primary care recovery program set in the Utah wilderness. Our program has a flexible length of stay and is designed to be completed in 90 days.

Passages To Recovery is an intervention with a primary focus on the treatment of addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders. We provide each client with a master's level licensed therapist ...read moreand an LSAC who together deliver individualized treatment planning, a bio-psycho-social assessment, individual and group therapy, life skills training, 12 Step work and meetings, meditation instruction, motivation enhancement, and gender specific treatment. Each client undergoes a psychiatric evaluation upon admission, and psychological testing within the first month.

-Wilderness Treatment Center

Wilderness Therapy Program

Marion, MT

Established in 1983

Wilderness Treatment Center believes that chemical dependency among adolescents and young adults can effectively be treated by providing a specialized program designed to treat both personal and social problem areas. Our program provides specific activities and a unique setting to allow for personal growth, self-confidence, better decision-making skills, and leadership growth. We combine group work and extensive therapy with personal inventory ...read moreassessment to help residents develop the self-esteem, physical fitness, responsibility, and trust necessary to gain freedom from chemical dependency.

Wilderness Treatment Center is a 60-day, in-patient program for males, 14-24 years of age that have been diagnosed "chemically dependent" by a licensed counselor and subsequently referred to an in-patient treatment center.

-Triangle Cross Ranch

Outdoor Therapeutic Program

Powell, WY

Mount Carmel Youth Ranch is a non-profit organization that uses real life experiences on a cattle ranch to dignify and increase the self-esteem of the troubled youth. Our "Reality Therapy" in a true west setting, is done with a Catholic focus to help mend the troubled youth's relationships with family as well as building a moral conscience within the boy. This is accomplished by educating the mind, strengthening the body, and elevating ...read morethe spirit.

Our adventure-experiential therapies based program helps at-risk teens through a mind, body, and spirit approach aimed at the young man's mature emotional development. We offer many first time experiences that will dramatically improve his ability to make changes towards healthier lifestyle choices.

-SUWS Adolescent and Youth Programs

Outdoor Therapeutic Program

Shoshone, ID

Established in 1981

Operating in southern IDAHO since 1981, SUWS is a licensed treatment program that uses a desert environment in an intervention focused on assessment, wilderness therapy, and a strong clinical team to help struggling teens. Utilizing a "search and rescue" metaphor, the goal of the Adolescent Program is to empower adolescents with opportunities for growth as they rediscover their sense of purpose and strengthen their connections to self, ...read morefamily, and community. Begun in 1997, the Youth Program promotes a solid foundation of personal self-worth and value from which students and their families rediscover hope through positive reference experiences.

SUWS provides families with a safe and immediate intervention. The outdoor environment, emphasis on teamwork, and experiential learning help students gain insight and build upon their own sense of self-worth as they learn the value of helping others. Therapists work closely with each child to help him/her determine the attitudes and behaviors that are negatively impacting self-perceptions. By pinpointing and examining these self-limiting beliefs, the therapist can work with parents, counselors, consultants, and schools to develop customized treatment plans and determine appropriate aftercare arrangements.

-Second Nature Uintas

Wilderness Therapy Program

Duchesne, UT

Established in 1998

Second Nature is a licensed treatment program that uses the wilderness setting in a clinically focused intervention to teach students accountability, communication skills, and healthy emotional and behavioral habits. Treatment plans are individualized for each student and include flexible lengths of stay, single gender treatment groups, daily group therapy, and individualized therapy sessions with doctorate level therapists twice weekly.

Second ...read moreNature works with students ages 13 to 17 with a range of emotional and behavioral issues including Depression, Learning Differences, Oppositional Defiance, Attention Deficit, Attachment, and Substance Abuse Disorders. Typical students fail to respond to limits and rules, act entitled, choose the wrong friends, underachieve, have low self-esteem, experience a decline in academic performance, and may be experiencing parent-child conflict.

-Explorations

Outdoor Therapeutic Program

Trout Creek, MT

Established in 1989

Explorations offers a variety of unique and relevant program choices that meet the needs of today's teens and young adults. For 20 years, we have provided innovative, diverse offerings that promote healthy families. We promise individualized attention and small groups. We support reunification of families through integrated parent involvement. We prioritize successful, supported transitions at the conclusion of our offerings.

Custom-Designed ...read moreExperiences are available year-round for families, parents, young adults, or siblings. We specialize in designing experiences to promote positive change and pro-active life choices. Extensive therapy, creative outdoor pursuits, and education are integrated to meet the needs of the student, young adult or entire family.

-Second Nature Entrada

Outdoor Therapeutic Program

St. George, UT

Established in 2004

Second Nature Entrada is a licensed treatment program that uses the wilderness setting in a clinically focused intervention to teach students accountability, communication skills, and healthy emotional and behavioral habits. Treatment plans are individualized for each student and include flexible lengths of stay, single gender treatment groups, daily group therapy, and individualized therapy sessions with doctorate level therapists twice weekly.

Second ...read moreNature incorporates carefully tailored academic curriculum accredited by Northwest Association of Accredited Schools with Science, English, P.E., and Psychology credits contextually based in the wilderness experience. This helps clients earn academic credits while away from school and allows for assessment of how clients respond to academic challenges.

-Outback Therapeutic Expeditions

Wilderness Therapy Program

Lehi, UT

Established in 2001

Outback is a licensed treatment program that uses the wilderness as an alternative to traditional treatment settings, while employing conventional therapeutic methods. Treatment, not wilderness or survival skills, is the primary focus at Outback. To accomplish this, Outback has licensed Ph.D. and Masters level therapists, individualized treatment planning, individual therapy, group therapy, flexible lengths of stay, daily group processing sessions, ...read moresingle gender groups using a continuous flow model, and weekly parent/consultant communication.

Outback's goal is to empower the students by focusing on insight, self-mastery, and choice. These foci, combined with individual and group therapy sessions, individualized treatment planning, and the program's philosophy of promoting personal responsibility, allows the students to better internalize new, healthy habits and improve self-esteem.

-Open Sky Wilderness Therapy

Wilderness Therapy Program

Durango, CO

Established in 2005

Open Sky's holistic wilderness program engages the transformational power of nature to strengthen relationships, foster growth, cultivate awareness, and develop overall health and wellness. Our unique approach combines traditional therapeutic approaches, naturopathic medicine, innovative substance abuse treatment, organic, whole foods nutrition, and healthy outdoor living for all of our students.

Open Sky works with male and female ...read moreadolescents, ages 13-17, and male and female young adults, ages 18-28, in a separate adult program. Our highly experienced clinicians effectively treat a variety of behavioral and emotional issues. The average group size at Open Sky is seven, smaller than the industry norm, to provide for a higher level of individualized care.

-RedCliff Ascent

Wilderness Therapy Program

Enterprise, UT

Established in 1993

RedCliff Ascent is a therapeutic wilderness treatment program for adolescents who are on a "Developmental Vacation." That means the child's emotional and behavioral growth is stalled.They lack the coping mechanisms, competencies and discipline necessary to manage their lives.

RedCliff Ascent therapists, all Ph.D. and Master's level clinicians, use this stalled development as the lens through which to view these ...read morestudents who struggle with diagnosis like ADHD, ODD, bipolar mood disorder, substance abuse, or similar complex conditions. These experienced clinicians help students learn to manage their life, and their diagnoses.

-WinGate Wilderness Therapy

Wilderness Therapy Program

Kanab, UT

Established in 2008

WinGate utilizes a strengths based approach to recognize potential in even the most challenging of students. Proper, thorough assessment coupled with proven treatment strategies implemented in a supportive environment, create the WinGate difference. It begins with our deep-seated belief that every student is unique, gifted, and capable of dramatic emotional and behavioral transformation.

As a result, we seek to provide a nurturing ...read moreyet challenging environment where students can grow, gain perspective, and attain a new level of maturity, while addressing their specific behavioral issues and problems. We combined the best practices of the wilderness with the best clinical techniques in order to take wilderness therapy to a dramatically higher level of integration and results.