Health and Education

“ It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit ” —Robert Louis Stevenson   The majority of teenagers that come to wilderness therapy enter the woods in a state of almost chronic stress and exhaustion. They are over-aroused and over-stressed. Many are carrying a  laundry list of diagnoses , specifically anxiety-related disorders, that are treated through a complex diet of psychotropic medications. When you hear their stories and get a sense of their lifestyle choices, you realize that many kids are constantly stimulated and stressed: by electronics, caffeine, drugs, social media, academic pressures, parental demands and the ever-mystifying challenge of growing up into adulthood. On a physiological level, these stressors trigger their sympathetic nervous systems, which governs fight-or-flight behavio...

How many times have we seen someone we love refuse to do something without ever trying? In our hearts, we know that if they would just give it a try, there is a good chance that they would succeed. We may think, “They lack self-esteem or self-worth”' this is partially correct, but it is missing the most important part of the equation: Self Efficacy.  Self-efficacy is one’s belief in the ability to accomplish a particular task. Self-efficacy differs from self-esteem, which is the respect one has for oneself; this is an important distinction when dealing with adolescents. For the pre-teen and teen population, the general confidence adolescents have in their ability to accomplish a task correlates directly to whether they are successful in that task or not. At Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness we find it particularly true while working with individuals suffering from substance use problems.  Self-efficacy or increased confidence in the ability to sustain recovery was t...

Not long ago “at-risk youth” could be defined as a young person exposed to a daily onslaught of gangs, drugs, and violence within a single-parent, low income demographic.  According to the organization: At Risk Youth Programs, behaviors that result in “dangerous lifestyles” are often the result of stress that kids experience.  In recent years we have seen a shift in demographics of at-risk youth.  With the stress of school, extra-curricular activities, learning differences, and ever increasing mandates to test and measure progress, our kids are being medicated and go to therapy to “normalize” outcomes.  As a result, our education system in America has created an entire population of at-risk youth from every demographic! Our education system in America has created an entire population of high-stressed, at-risk youth from every demographic! At Makarios Community School we aim to reverse this trend by providing a safe and supportive environment for ALL student...