The Therapeutic Wilderness Programs

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Unlike other teen programs - boot camps - the wilderness programs do not employ force, confrontation, point level systems or other overt behavioral modifications, techniques and models. The wilderness programs use assertiveness, open communication between staff and students are very group oriented. They trace their origin to outdoor survival programs that place children in a challenging environment where the outcomes were developing determination, communication skills and teamwork.

There are also a couple of controversies concerning the wilderness programs. For example, some programs that advertise themselves as such are in fact boot camps in a wilderness environment. But they can sometimes be distinguished from other wilderness therapy by such programs promising behavior modifications for troubled teens. Other controversies are related to the abusive situation that have been reported and the accidental deaths that have taken place in some of these programs.

An important controversy concerns whether parents should be allowed to force their children to enter such programs, which is unfortunately often the case. Apart from the thousands of dollars spent on the programs, some parents pay a company to escort their teens and thus make sure that their child gets to the program by any means necessary. But in order for any therapy or treatment to be efficient, the participant or the patient must be given the time to decide whether he would like to be in such programs or not.