Wilderness Treatment Programs
How a Treatment Program in Utah Takes a Unique Approach to Recovery
Sometimes for recovery to take place, a person has to journey to a place of healing.
In Native American tradition certain places in nature are kept as sacred places of healing. Such a place may be a breathtakingly beautiful mountain, a sparkling waterfall, the greenest meadow or the bluest lake. Native tribes understand that these places are filled with such magnificence that just being there calms a person’s spirit and makes him or her receptive to healing.
Passages to Recovery uses the healing powers of South Utah’s wilderness to free people from their enslavement to alcoholism or substance abuse, along with conventional and proven treatments such as state-of-the-art medicine, psychotherapy, and the time-tested 12-Step Program. This unique system gets results that last a lifetime.
…I came with death right behind me and left with life ahead.
(Andrew, former participant and current college student)
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A student begins the journey at the Salt Lake City Airport, where Passages staff members welcome him or her and drive for about three hours to the wilderness area near South Loa. The first week passes in the Transition Center, where each participant undergoes complete physical and psychological evaluations with medical staff. Meanwhile parents may attend a two-day workshop.
After writing a life history, a participant joins a group of one to five others led by a wilderness counselor and therapists. Each person carries tent, gear and backpack as he or she takes a nomadic journey of one month or longer into beautiful high Alpine country of lake, ponderosa and pine, or if it is a warm time of the year, into Red Rock desert wilderness.
Surviving in nature becomes a metaphor for surviving addictions, says Trilby Hoover, director of Passages to Recovery. Surviving in nature requires planning and thinking ahead. We have to learn to read the weather conditions, and we have to keep going no matter how we feel that day. We have to take care of ourselves no matter what.
Each group starts the day with reading, meditating and reflecting on spiritual principles gleaned from many different traditions. Besides hiking and camping, the day includes 12-Step meetings and counseling. Students read letters from their family and friends that tell how the loved one’s addiction has negatively impacted their lives too.
The Passages approach is spiritual but not religious. Going into the wilderness often triggers a connection with something bigger than the individual self, said Ramon Palacios, a program director.
Many of our students have never seen the stars, he says. They learn there is more to life than the city. They may have seen pictures in National Geographic, but here we actually cross the desert or really experience a canyon. We listen and hear and see nature at its most magnificent, and this gets us out of ourselves, he says.
Some students participate in ancient healing traditions such as the Sweat Lodge or Vision Quest. A Sweat Lodge ceremony, used by tribes as diverse as Alaskan Eskimos and the Mexican Mayans, is a method in which your body can heat up and release physical poisons, even as your mind releases negativity and bad thoughts. For example, Native American men returning from World War II often underwent a Sweat Lodge ceremony to get rid of their painful memories of battlefields.
A Vision Quest is a structured journey usually taken by adolescent Native American boys. After fasting and praying, a boy would travel alone into the wilderness to seek a vision that could heal his soul or guide him in battle. In American Indian tradition, the vision of the boy’s animal spirit would protect him from death in battles. Likewise a vision can protect a person battling with substance abuse. Only students who are ready and who have been thoroughly prepared by Passages staffers are allowed to take a Vision Quest journey.
In the wilderness you begin to live life on life’s terms, says Ms. Hoover.
…The simplicity of this program has provided me with the ability to hone my abilities to care for myself without being overwhelmed by the enormity of the world's problems. I've simplified and found hope for my life by giving my will to the Great Spirit of love and recovery."
Angela, student
We take them out of their comfort zone, explains Jill Nugent, who is Admissions Director. Being away from the phone, radio, television and all the other distractions of modern fast-paced living breaks through their psychological garbage, she says, and all the stuff our people have been hanging on to gets left behind.
As participants experience wilderness and are forced to cooperate with others, their eyes are opened to universal spiritual principles and the Higher Power. They learn how to accept help from others and from their Higher Power, who can transform their lives now and keep working in their lives once they return home.
We start with the expectation of a spiritual lifestyle, and give them the whole spiritual concept in little tiny bytes, says Ms. Nugent.
The Passages program is unique in the field because it combines wilderness experience with conventional methods, and because it takes a practical approach to recovery. Our students learn how to meditate and reflect, and they learn to slow down and think about their next action, says Ms. Hoover. We give them practical tools to continue on their spiritual journey. After the wilderness journey, participants go into an after-care program that includes weekly psychotherapy.
People who have successfully completed the Passages program and who remain toxin-free for at least ninety days can come back to the program to reinforce what they have learned and to teach others.
“Our graduates often tell us that this is something that worked, and that this is something profound,” said the director.
In 2003, the Passages to Recovery Program was awarded the Woodbury Excellence in Education Award for producing positive and consistent results. The Program received highest ratings from a network of independent educational consultants who rate more than 300 residential schools, programs and transport agencies annually.
If someone you love needs Passages to Recovery, please call 866-625-8809 or learn more about Passages Wilderness Recovery Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program
"If you want to grow, suffer, and challenge yourself, if you just need to feel alive,
this is where you need to be. This program will save your life. It saved mine."
Chris, student and former participant.
Wilderness Programs - Fresh Approaches after Almost Three Decades of Helping Troubled Teens
Wilderness programs have been helping troubled teens deal with depression, defiance, attention deficit, substance abuse, and other behavioral issues since the 1940s. Although the concept of teens venturing out into the wilderness to learn teamwork, communication, and responsibility is not new, wilderness therapy has come a long way over the years. Learn more about three decades of helping teens in the wilderness.
SageWalk, the Wilderness School
For over ten years SageWalk, The Wilderness School has provided students and families with intervention, assessment, and long range tools on how to live a clean and sober lifestyle. SageWalk is a year round therapeutic program that is licensed by the State of Oregon as an Outpatient Chemical Dependency Program for families who need chemical dependency help for their troubled teens. SageWalk provides a unique safe, secure, and sober environment for students to discover the harm of using drugs and alcohol. The wilderness and absence of external distractions along with a DBT approach to therapy, provides the environment and support needed for a student to identify the changes they need to make in order to enjoy a normal healthy lifestyle.
Parents Who Drink Influence Their Teens to do the Same Thing
If you are a parent who does not drink or use drugs, chances are your children will follow your example. Even if you just proclaim a negative attitude toward liquor and drugs, your child will think twice about using them. However, if you are a heavy drinker, you increase your child's chances of following your example by threefold. It's true: just when you thought the only things influencing your teen were friends, video games and the Internet, it turns out that parents still matter. How are you influencing your teen?
Parenting Younger Siblings of Addicted Teens
As with any family-related trauma, the person at the heart of the concern gets the most attention. When adolescent mental health or substance abuse issues arise, the siblings of the substance abuser may be overlooked or neglected. It's expected, or at least hoped, that the siblings of the substance abuser will maintain their "good" status and allow everyone to focus on the child with the issues. Read how to deal with your other children to ensure they don't head down the same path.
Topics:
Drug Rehab
Addiction Treatment Centers
Substance Abuse Treatment
Recovery Programs