Interventions can be tricky things to navigate. Knowing a person needs help because of their behavior or even suicidal ideation will lead us to want to do our best for them, but that doesn’t always mean that getting the help they need is easy.
How is Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy different? On paper, everything sounds great: it’s a program that encourages life skills, communication, and ultimately healing and reverses patterns of harmful or destructive behaviors. But what does that look like in real life? It’s recommended that you read on to inspect what the program entails.
What is Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy All About?
Millions of Americans are in therapy. Sadly, life today can be challenging to the point where we feel overwhelmed and require guidance and professional assistance. And for some, talking therapies in a quiet office setting and non-challenging environment may be what they need.
Trails Carolina does things a little differently. Much of it stems from the knowledge that young people, especially teenagers, are at a crucial stage in their development, possibly the most meaningful years of their lives.
Adults in therapy have already passed this stage, but young people who are struggling benefit from a different kind of therapy: wilderness therapy helps them right now and equips them with lifelong skills that they will never lose.
It is the ethos of Trails Carolina to facilitate the creation of positive coping mechanisms that last a lifetime and lead to adolescents better equipped to be successful in the future.
How Does it Work?
Students at the Trails Carolina program will sleep each night in one of three accommodations: a cabin, a tent, or a yurt. Depending on where they are in the program and what activities they’re involved in.
Cabins are shared spaces where students learn about co-habiting with others and respecting space. During expo weeks, they learn how to spot the best places to camp and look out for one another as they build their campsites together.
For many teens in the Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy program, their anxiety can be attributed to excessive use of social media. Others struggle with being able to switch off the computer or put down their gaming controller.
The program’s founders and staff understand that cell phones, tablets, and consoles aren’t just ways to pass the time but methods teens use to connect and form social groups.
However, they receive social interaction and much more in person, through the program, with their peers. They make real friends, form solid bonds, and learn to work alongside others going through similar situations.
The program is designed to include families in the entire process. The mix of family coaching, one-on-one individual therapy, and group therapy with peers ensure that the student will find opportunities to grow.
What makes the difference is how the interactions they have away from their phones and the virtual world give more back than they could ever get alone in their rooms at home. The skills they pick up in the program are used in communicating with people after graduation.
What Kind of Activities Are There?
Trails North Carolina focuses on using wilderness skills to encourage students to find inner strength and confidence that they never knew they possessed.
The wilderness is where they will camp, build fires, hike, cook, and learn about the wilderness. And that’s just scratching the surface!
From rock climbing to equine programming, from bow drilling to light campfires to meditation and yoga, there’s never a moment in the program they are not working on growth and self-improvement.
While there is plenty of time to spend outdoors, students have one-on-one downtime with their therapist during the program. Where they can talk through anything and everything that’s on their mind.
Students also partake in an academic curriculum, as their education remains paramount. They may not be in the traditional school setting, but education isn’t neglected, so they’re not behind in their studies once they return home after graduation from Trails Carolina.
What Have Others Said About the Program?
Testimonials are vital in understanding what someone interested in participating in the program can expect.
Looking online for Trails North Carolina Wilderness Program reviews shows that the overwhelming response is one of “surpassed expectations.”
One parent even said that their daughter is now “on a promising and hopeful path because of Trails.” Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy helps to support students and families in changing their lives for the better.