FAQ's about our Wilderness Program

To get the answers to some of the questions you may have about Alldredge Wilderness Journey, click on our Frequently Asked Questions:

What is the difference between a lockdown program and an open campus?
What are your expectations?
How safe will my teen be?
How often can I see my child?
What training and experience does the staff have?
What are some of the behaviors that the program deals with?
What are some of the behaviors that the program will not accept?
What methods does the program use?
How does the program deal with resistant teens? How can it help my troubled teen?
How long will this take?
How many children have been through Alldredge Wilderness Journey?
What kind of family support is offered?
How is this program different from the countless others?
What kind of academic credits are available through this program?
How am I going to pay for this?

What is the difference between a lockdown program and an open campus?

Alldredge Wilderness Journey does not accept students who are too destructive of property, self, or others. We seek students who can thrive in a decision making environment without being restrained by locks and guards. We have comprehensive supervision, but we are not a "lock-up" program.

What we are instead is an open campus, where your teen will be supervised at all times.

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What are your expectations?

Parents often discuss expectations about limiting or eliminating some negative behaviors. Examples include ending substance abuse, improving school performance, increasing self-esteem, etc. Alldredge has created a unique wilderness program model that is based on inspiration, that is, helping students recognize their gifts and use them more fully. It has been our experience that in focusing on these strengths, students begin to abandon many of the negative behaviors that were used to help them feel successful. Expectations that we have for students include: increasing their desire and capacity for healthy, virtuous relationships, finding a purpose in life, and connecting to a higher power. Alldredge has over 1,000 alumni who have embraced these universal concepts, and in doing so have developed a desire for behaviors more closely aligned with the hopes that their parents have had for them from the moment they were born.

For families in crisis, the decision to draw on the services of a wilderness intervention program for their son or daughter is a difficult one. You might consider hiring a private educational consultant or counselor to assist you in the process.

For more information about educational consultants in your area, please contact our Admissions Department at 888-468-1828. We are available seven days a week.

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How safe will my teen be?

Alldredge Wilderness Journey provides experienced, trained professional counselors during the Wilderness phase of the program. Each student’s personal security is our top priority. Our teams utilize GPS technology and satellite phones to maintain safety and communication.

Risk management of adolescents in any program is critically important. Alldredge has a risk management plan that includes policies, procedures, trained staff, and equipment to minimize risks. We have seven full-time, NASAR-certified Search and Rescue experts and a full-time registered nurse, as well as quick access to consulting physicians and professionals. Full-time wilderness staff members are all CPR and First Aid certified and are trained in Crisis Prevention Intervention. Additionally, many staff members have multiple safety certifications, including:

• Wilderness First Responder
• Leave No Trace Trainer
• Ropes Course Builder
• Ropes Course Facilitator
• Tom Brown Tracking School
• Wilderness Education Association Certification
• ACA Whitewater Canoe Instructor
• ACA Whitewater Rafting Trainer
• ACA Swiftwater Rescue Technician
• Non-Violent Crisis Intervention
• Emergency Medical Technician

Professional emergency response services including helicopter Medivac units are readily accessible. We embrace the fiduciary duty to care for students as we would with our own children.

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How often can I see my child?

Your first contact is with your teen's counselor in the week following admission. After that, you will have a scheduled, weekly update by the counselor. There are exchanges of letters between parents and teen coordinated by the counselor. Your teen will also be attending the family workshops with you.

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What training and experience does the staff have?

All programs include one-on-one counseling, group counseling, and experiential learning. The emotional growth program is directed by Clinical Director, Mike Beswick, LCSW, BCD. All staff at Alldredge have extensive academic and professional certifications. For a complete list, click here.

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What are some of the behaviors that the program deals with?

Students at Alldredge come with many labels: unmotivated, adrift, troubled teen, at-risk, manipulative, difficult, entitled, delinquent, detached, drop out. They may be oppositional and defiant toward authority including parents, teachers, and the community. Many of our students may have common behavioral issues that surround youth today, including depression, anger management problems, negative peer relationships, poor impulse control, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), ADHD (associated with hyperactivity). Still others may be experiencing issues of grief and loss associated with the death of a loved one, divorce, adoption, or other personal trauma. Many may be struggling academically, or may even have dropped out of high school, despite their talents and intelligence.

Alldredge admits adolescents experiencing any of the following detrimental behaviors:

• Lying
• Stealing
• Truancy
• Promiscuity
• Cutting or self-injury
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder (under control with medication)
• Substance abuse
• Internet addiction
• Game addiction

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What are some of the behaviors that the program will not accept?

We do not accept students who are too destructive of property, self, or others. We seek students who can thrive in a decision-making environment without being restrained by locks and guards. We have comprehensive supervision, but we are not a “lock-up” program.

We do not accept students with psychosis, who are unable to discern between fantasy and reality. Because Alldredge employs a cognitively sophisticated model, a student’s cognitive ability will determine their fitness for the program as well.

Alldredge accepts students on medication. However, we do not prescribe medication, but we facilitate the continuation of previously prescribed medication.

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What methods does the program use?

The Alldredge model is state-of-the-art and has been greatly influenced by Dr. Brent Slife, the chairman of the American Psychological Association’s Theoretical and Philosophical Division. Alldredge has been extensively studied, is one of the few places utilizing concepts of spirituality in daily student curriculum, and has been the subject of many doctoral dissertations.

Alldredge’s values-based and encourages a spiritual recovery for adolescents. Students at Alldredge learn to passionately connect to a greater purpose and discover a "higher power" that can intervene in their experience. Students learn healthy and resourceful behaviors. Issues of substance abuse, anxiety, depression, relational conflicts, etc. are treated as obstacles to those objectives. Students learn to desire and achieve personal change not just for themselves but for others.

The wilderness program is designed to be nurturing and supportive and is not a deprivation model. Alldredge Wilderness Journey is NOT a boot camp for struggling teens. We are a wilderness program that works from the “inside out”, encouraging troubled teens to do the right things for good, virtuous reasons. Alldredge wilderness programs are provocatively designed to transform the struggling teen’s heart and mind, which will ultimately change behavior. We do NOT believe in using behavior modification to force students to change. Our therapeutic wilderness interventions are nurturing and supportive. We maintain positive and healthy relationships with teens, helping them achieve emotional and personal growth.

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How does the program deal with resistant teens?
How can it help my troubled teen?

The Alldredge Search and Rescue (SAR) phase is not about change, it’s about removing limitations. Students often enter our wilderness program very limited in their ways of coping and are often frustrated, sad, and hopeless. The design and structure of the SAR component is to exhaust detrimental behavior patterns and then facilitate the understanding of healthier and more beneficial options to prepare students for sharing these powerful insights with their families and others. Interventions at Alldredge are formulated so as not engage a student in a power struggle. During each phase, treatment teams consisting of mentors and therapists meet to move students from an oppositional stance to a position that will help them receive the maximum benefit from the program. Nonlinear and paradoxical interventions are created where, generally, the student does not receive the expected response from a given behavior.

Upon admission, students start the program in the Wilderness Search and Rescue phase, where students receive search and rescue training, including First Aid and CPR, and wilderness survival training in a safe but challenging environment. Next, they learn how to be healthy members in a community by living and working together in the Mountain Village.

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How long will this take?

Generally, students are enrolled for 60 days, depending on needs and desired outcomes.

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How many children have been through Alldredge Wilderness Journey?

Alldredge opened its doors in 1999. To date, approximately 1,000 students have been through the program.

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What kind of family support is offered?

Alldredge firmly believes that a successful outcome for students has much to do with family members being as actively involved in treatment as their son or daughter. Parents of a struggling teen attending Alldredge for any period of time must attend family workshops. Two workshops are provided for students and their families: one after the Search and Rescue experience and the second after the Mountain Village experience. Both workshops last three days and are one month apart to allow time to pass for calibrating progress and integrating changes.

The workshops are directed by Mike Beswick, LCSW, BCD, a nationally recognized family therapist who has facilitated thousands of workshops and has presented at conferences throughout the country. Parents invariably respond that the workshops were not only helpful for their teen, but life-changing experiences for the whole family.

The themes of the workshops focus on addressing and interrupting negative multi-generational patterns. This approach is both safe and supportive for the emerging student who will have to “walk the walk, not just talk the talk.”

Participants are engaged in various active processes rather than listening to lectures. Interventions are incisive without being combative or threatening.

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How is this program different from the countless others?

Our programs at Alldredge Wilderness Journey include one-on-one counseling, group counseling, and experiential learning. Our counselors are in the field four days a week with students and provide families and referring professionals updates weekly.

Alldredge provides a unique, two-phase wilderness program experience. This model provides students the opportunity to learn, reflect, and change. During the Search and Rescue phase, students learn to forego their needs in the quest to help others. Once in the Mountain Village, students are able to reflect on their experiences and better define their values and beliefs. We believe that you can force an adolescent to change, but you can’t force their desires to change. During their time at the Mountain Village, students are exposed to therapeutic experiences that bypass literal learning, influencing changes at a deeper level.

Family workshops, facilitated by Mike Beswick, LCSW, are an integral part of our program. Mike is known for his empowering method of engaging groups to do the intensive work that is necessary to facilitate family healing and growth. The first family workshop occurs directly after the Search and Rescue phase. Parents and their teens begin to develop empathy and begin the process of healing. Following the Mountain Village experience, families and students come together again to learn and process.

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What kind of academic credits are available through this program?

Students will have the opportunity to earn 5 academic credits during their 60-day wilderness therapy experience. Upon graduation, students will receive a summary of educational credits earned during their time at Alldredge. Transcripts will be issued to schools at parents’ request. The following courses are provided during the first two phases at Alldredge:

• CPR and First Aid—1 credit
• World Culture—1 credit
• Creative Writing—1/2 credit
• Wilderness PE—1/2 credit
• Environmental Science Lab—1/2 credit
• Primitive Music—1/2 credit
• Primitive Art—1/2 credit
• Core Academic Course (Math or English)—1/2 credit

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How am I going to pay for this?

Alldredge is committed to offering the best care possible at a price that is extremely cost-competitive. We do everything we can to help more families afford the quality services associated with a comprehensive program of this nature.

For more information, please contact our Admissions Department at 888-468-1828. We are available seven days a week.

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