Posts by Francis Van De Beuken
Depression And Anxiety Are More Common Than You Think
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the U.S. It is common for someone who suffers from an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression and vice versa. The number of children and adolescents that struggle with anxiety and/or depression has increased over time. According to a report from 2011-2012, more than 1…
Read MoreIs Your Teen Bullying? Five Ways to Address Bullying in Teens
If you have ever experienced bullying, you know that it is not something you’d want others to go through. Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior towards another person. Bullies typically seek to harm or intimidate others, which can include making threats, spreading rumors, physically or verbally attacking someone, and excluding someone from a group on…
Read MoreOutdoor Therapy for Teens with Substance Use Issues
Adolescence can be a challenging time for both parents and the teens themselves. As a family, you are transitioning from being involved in every aspect of your child’s life to experiencing your teen pulling away as they yearn for autonomy. This is a natural part of childhood development as teens begin to develop their own…
Read MoreWilderness Therapy Programs For Middle School Students
Adolescence is a significant period of emotional development, where the therapeutic needs of middle schoolers are different from the needs of high schoolers. Teachers understand this and apply different techniques in the classrooms, so why shouldn’t wilderness programs? Currently, Trails is the only wilderness therapy program for middle school students with single-gender middle school programming…
Read MoreLimiting Screen Time for Teens with ADHD
More than half of teens ages 12-17 report trying to take steps to limit their personal screen time and 57% claim their parents have tried to limit their technology use in one way or another. Limiting screen time can be particularly challenging for teens with ADHD due to difficulties with self-monitoring and inattention. While they…
Read MorePTSD Can Lead to Aggression in Teens
PTSD is becoming increasingly common among teen populations, with studies showing that anywhere from 15-43% of children experience at least one trauma in their lives. Of these children, 3-15% of girls and 1-6% of boys develop PTSD. PTSD has been linked with aggressive and impulsive behavior that can have harmful impacts on all its victims,…
Read MoreMy adopted child has attachment issues: How can I find treatment for them?
Adoption can be one of the most rewarding experiences of a parent’s life. After months or years of waiting for your family to feel complete, you finally get to bring home your child. And while adoption is incredibly rewarding, it can also come with it’s own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges are…
Read MoreThe Purpose of Bow Drilling in Wilderness Therapy
There is evidence that humans have been using fire as a survival tool for as long as a million years, but it took several hundred thousand years for us to perfect the skill of building and controlling fires. Over time, we have learned to skip steps along the way and focus more on the size…
Read MoreLong-Term Effects of School Refusal Beyond Educational Outcomes
We need to rethink how we conceptualize school refusal, particularly in younger children. We tend to think that it does not make a difference for an elementary school child to be pulled from class for an extra day of vacation or a doctor’s appointment followed by an afternoon of personal errands. However, by the time…
Read MoreOutdoor Therapy Serves as Healthy Outlet for Teens with Behavior Problems
Outdoor therapy programs take a different approach than boot camps for teens with behavior problems by using nature as a guide to making healthier choices and empowering teens to gain insight into how their actions affect others. As many teens with behavior problems struggle with taking advice from authority figures and lack self-awareness necessary for…
Read More