Health and Education

David and I both knew that the end was near. It's raining in the Chattahoochee National Forest, the kind of cold rain that sings like a siren, seducing and inviting one to withdraw from the light, airy, cathedral of the mind, to descend into the sweet, watery depths of the soul. He and I were sitting under a tarp, shelter from the rain, huddling around the small, smoky fire that served to dissolve the boundary between us. It was David's 100th day in our wilderness therapy program, each of the previous days stretching through time, falling through space until they collected into a large pool, which seemed to be the totality of his young life. Each of these days, in recollection, seemed to be a journey of sorts through all the kingdoms of possible human experience: the outer darkness of parental betrayal, the scented oasis of joy, the citadel of teenage power and the open road of freedom. Yet, on this 100th day, here we were in the most unexpected of domains, the grave...

Progressive schools are scary. They are a bit like deciding to take a   road trip   but instead of going directly from Point A to Point   B,   you decide to take your own route. When kids get to decide the route, parents bite their lip and wonder: "Is this wise? Will my kid end up lost? If I just give him/her the keys to his/her own education and a vehicle (the school), won't the   freedom   go to his/her head? How   will s /he   turn   out?" The good news is, this isn't a new experiment. There has been much  research  in the past thirty years that shows a majority of students turn out  smarter, more adaptable, and happier  than their public school counterparts.  They learn to take their own roads and develop the  essential skills  that often can't be formed in a public school setting.  Here are five that make the biggest difference. Autonomy Toddlers have amazing autonomy.  They explo...

I have worked in a multitude of treatment settings from sober living communities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, a university, and most recently found myself in a new container: the wilderness. I assumed that this treatment modality would be similar to the other environments I have worked in, only, it was doing therapy out in the woods. It had been a long time since I thought about how being outside unquestionably impacted my childhood. However, it didn't take long for me to remember just how profound a connection to the wilderness can be. I see this vital relationship to the outdoors forming in my students, and I know that they are learning so much from it, just as I have. I work with adolescent boys struggling with co-occurring mental health issues and substance use. These boys often are not willing (at first) or thrilled (at first) about living in the woods for ten weeks, and I quickly discover how much their substance abuse has impacted their daily lives, their r...

University-Model High School for the Liberated Youth Did you know that George Washington Carver was the local “plant doctor” before he turned 13? Or that George Washington was a land surveyor in his teenage years? Or that Laura Ingalls Wilder began her teaching career prior to her 16th birthday? These teens were not much different than ours today. They were passionate about something, yet they had the freedom to pursue their passion. You’ve been hearing a lot from us about…the  Makarios Path to Self-Directed Learning ...How we  Approach Education at Makarios …breaking the  Repetition Cycle  so often found in traditional education...and the similarities between  Finland’s top-ranking education system and Democratic Free schools . And these are all great examples of this model’s success, but what about the high school student that has struck out on their own, or (gasp!) dropped-out of school? What about the high school student that has struck out on their o...

I discovered this incredible work by chance while searching through a listing of outdoor jobs on an online database in the summer of 2011. As a recent college graduate, I was neck deep in the angst of entering the job force. I had never heard of Wilderness Therapy before, and honestly, I remember feeling unsure if I wanted to do it or not. I pictured a boot camp where students just cried all day and yelled at each other as field instructors ran around saying things like, “take accountability for your actions!” or, “let the tears flow!” Nonetheless, something about it captivated my imagination. So I applied for a job as a Field Instructor and read every book about it I could get my hands on. As I read  Shouting At The Sky , a book describing a writer’s personal wilderness therapy experience, I started to understand that this wasn’t like anything else I had ever heard of; it sounded compassionate, powerful, raw, even sacred. Two months later I was asked to join a training group ...

This post originally appeared in All Kinds of Therapy, written by Emily Miranda. You can find that post  here . Any seasoned wilderness therapy staff knows the importance of students remaining well-hydrated. Being that our bodies are comprised of so much water, drinking plenty of it every day helps keep students’ bodies functioning properly; it helps with regulation of body temperature, aids in removing toxins, helps acclimatize the body to new altitudes, prevents headaches and even irritability (both can be signs of dehydration) and helps the skin and hair maintain moisture and deliver essential nutrients to the cells. So, when I was working in a wilderness therapy program in Utah, and one of my students was refusing to drink water, suffice it to say I was concerned. As the staff and I were processing how to support this student being safely hydrated, while still meeting her need for a sense of choice, one of the staff mentioned, “well, she’s not drinking enough water, but...

When I went off to a private, liberal arts college at 19, I was required to take a course on study skills. Why? The university model of education requires students to do the majority of the learning on their own, and most don’t know how. They’ve spent four years spending 35 hours a week in a classroom where the teacher tells them what is important and what will be on the test. Then they go home and cram to remember that information long enough to pass. Then they go to college and take 4-5 classes about 3 hours long. They think it will be a breeze (12-15 hours), but those courses are condensed. Instead of a year, they are learning the same amount of material in a semester. Professors don’t ‘teach’ the material, they use class time to reinforce what students studied on their own in textbooks and videos the prior week and answer questions to clarify understanding and show correlations between different pieces. The university model shifts the responsibility for learning from t...