Talking Drugs: Discussing Substance Use with Out of Control Teenagers
When is too much, in fact, too much? There are multiple strategies on discussing substance use with out of control teenagers. Some argue that honesty about your own experiences with substances (if such experiences exist) is an important step to connecting with your child. Others argue that discussing your own experiences sends the wrong message by legitimizing substance use in your child’s eyes. As with
Natural Healing: Benefits of Choosing a Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Your Child
There are many types of therapy. Most approaches, however, focus on alleviating the immediate symptoms – and, once the symptoms have been hidden by any means necessary, the person is declared healthy. Unfortunately, the initial cause of the problem is still there, unaltered, waiting for an opportunity to strike. At a therapeutic wilderness program, however, a child’s struggles are targeted from within: by healing the
Using the Wild to Find Calm: Wilderness Treatment Centers for Teens
We have a connection with the wilderness. It’s deep down and sometimes hard to see in our technological world, but we have it. It’s easy to think of the feeling you get when you walk into the wilderness for a hike: calm. It's something about unplugging and taking a nature walk that allows your brain to relax and sort through stress. Wilderness treatment centers for teens
With a Little Help from Four-Legged Friends: Four Ways Animal Therapy Helps Struggling Young People
In this day and age, it is impossible to deny a simple truth: animals are taking over the world with cuteness. Be it cat videos or the Puppy Bowl, when animals enter the picture, everything else seems to fade away. But what if this adorable fuzziness could be used to heal various types of trauma? Enter animal therapy. When many people think of animal therapy, they
Wilderness Therapy Creates Positive Change in the Brain
Experiences in nature decrease negative thoughts In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by Gregory Bratman from Stanford University found a link between positive thinking and nature. It only took a 90-minute stroll through some greenery to elicit a change in the way people were thinking. Those who walked through the wilderness tended to focus less on negatives and had
How Wilderness Therapy Aids Youth Development
From the ages 10 to 17, your son or daughter will experience some of the most formative stages of youth development. Piaget’s cognitive development theory states this as a time when reasoning becomes focused and logical and teens begin to develop the ability to think abstractly. They will attempt to understand the world and themselves. These years will help determine their future selves, happiness and success.
Nature Therapy for Teens: An Escape from Technology
In current times it seems as though everyone is behind a piece of technology. From cell phones, to tablets, to laptops and more, it has almost become more common to walk into a room and see screens instead of faces. If you were to introduce these devices to a crowded room of talkative teenagers, the room would turn to a deserted and isolating ghost town
The Better Alternative to Summer Boot Camps for Teens
Any parent with a troubled teen has been where you are. At their wit’s end, not knowing how they got here in the first place and unsure of what steps to take next. You know your teen needs help beyond what you can offer, but you don’t know what that help should look like. What are boot camps for teens? Summer boot camps for teens are modeled
Tips for Parenting Troubled Teens
Parenting troubled teens can be a difficult endeavor no matter who you are. Parenting a troubled teen, however, can present its own unique set of challenges. Before things get out of hand, here are a few warning signs that might indicate your teen is on a path for troubled behavior. Changes in mood and temperament Yes, teen’s moods can change quickly due to hormones and other physiological
Wilderness Therapy Programs Develop Teens Personally and Socially
In this day and age, there seems to be so much negativity surrounding teens and their use of technology. Study after study shows the decline in social skills and face-to-face interactions of today’s generation of teenagers. But, is their technology-driven communication really that bad for them? The positive aspects of technology New research points out that though teens might have fewer friends than previous generations, they show a