Trails Carolina and the Academy at Trails recognize National Therapeutic Recreation Week
Trails Carolina and the Academy at Trails offer recreational activities for students in honor of National Therapeutic Recreation Week from July 13-17.
Trails Carolina and the Academy at Trails Carolina are bringing teens out into the great outdoors for National Therapeutic Recreation Week. Therapeutic recreation is the use of recreational activities, such as hiking or mountain biking, to provide health-related benefits. Trails Carolina, a leading wilderness therapy program, and the Academy at Trails, a top therapeutic boarding school, utilize therapeutic recreation to help students struggling with emotional and behavioral issues.
A 2005 study conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University, displayed the benefits of therapeutic recreation for teens through improvement in overall well-being, academics, and emotional symptoms . Additional benefits of therapeutic recreation include:
- improved memory
- increase in self esteem
- reduction of stress
- physical coordination and endurance
- development of new skills
As a wilderness therapy program, Trails Carolina understands the importance of therapeutic recreation. Throughout the program, teens ages 10-17, undergo camping and hiking activities which are designed to improve their well-being and assist in their healing process.
“At Trails Carolina, we emphasize the importance of being out in nature for the healing process of our students. In Mother Nature, our actions have natural consequences and that’s something our students learn while out camping or hiking,”commented Dr. John Singleton, Director of Business Development for Trails Carolina. “When students are out in nature, they learn so much about themselves and how they can improve behaviorally and emotionally.”
The Academy at Trails Carolina, Trails Carolina’s sister program, is a therapeutic boarding school for teen boys 14-18. As a therapeutic boarding school, the Academy at Trails utilizes recreational therapy as a tool to assist students academically and emotionally. Activities include: mountain biking, gardening, climbing, fishing, football, soccer, woodworking, and hiking.
“Students are encouraged to do activities that emphasize being part of a community. When they share a hiking trail with another student and bond together in that kind of situation, it’s so much better for them than hanging out or doing negative things,”says John Matthew MA, LPC, a therapist at the Academy for Trails. “Giving students activities that are good for them, like bouldering or mountain biking, helps improve their emotional state and can help them in all aspects of their lives.”
For more information about therapeutic recreation and studies that support its benefits, please visit:
American Therapeutic Recreation Association: https://www.atra-online.com/
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Trails Carolina is a wilderness therapy program based just outside of Asheville, North Carolina that offers a multi-dimensional wilderness therapy model to troubled adolescents, ages 10-17. Trails capitalizes upon the profound effects of a student’s wilderness experience, and then combines that experience with strong clinical assessments and therapy. For additional information about Trails Carolina, please visit https://trailscarolina.com/ or call 800-975-7303. The Academy at Trails Carolina is a therapeutic boarding school for struggling teen boys, ages 14-18. The Academy at Trails integrates academic, clinical , and student life activities to ensure enduring success within its students. For additional information about The Academy at Trails, please visit http://www.trailsacademy.com/ or call 1-888-387-2457.