Wilderness experience programs became popular after WWII as therapeutic interventions for at-risk youth. They involve adventure-based outdoor activities aimed at personal growth and rehabilitation as an alternative to juvenile detention. While studies show improvements in behaviors and self-image, there is debate around their effectiveness in reducing recidivism given variations between programs and some instances of abuse and death. The future of these programs involves moving toward more evidence-based mental health models to better serve troubled youth.

1. Chapter Three
WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE PROGRAMS

2. Wilderness Programs
 Became popular after WWII
 Typically outdoor, adventure-based programs created to provide therapeutic
inventions for at-risk youth
 They offer adventure based therapy, wilderness therapy, outdoor behavioral
healthcare, experiential learning, or education and wilderness boot camps
 Provides personal growth, therapy, rehabilitation, education, and
leadership/organizational development for delinquent youth as an
alternative to juvenile detention or commitment
 The idea was that removing juveniles from their usual environment
(typically urban) and placing them in nature was therapeutic
 Offenses committed by youths are generally not serious and the youth
typically do not have histories of persistent delinquency
 Placement in these programs typically lasts six to nine months
 In 2004, 118 WEPs were operating in the U.S., about 60% were privately
owned and 53% held from 21 to 50 residents
 Very popular programs, but the effectiveness is questionable

3. Wilderness Experience Programs
 Dated back to the early 1900s when state hospitals
used tent therapy as an intervention for adult
psychiatric patients, but quickly faded
 In the mid-20th century, therapeutic camps were
established to monitor, diagnose, and provide
psychotherapy for troubled youth
 Outward Bound program – 1946 – model for
contemporary wilderness programs

4. Types of Wilderness Programs
 Therapeutic programs – insight oriented therapy; use
challenges found naturally in wilderness settings to encourage
youth to see themselves from a different perspective
 Adventure programs – designed for recreational purposes, but
can also be used therapeutically; not always geared toward
changing one’s behavior or self concept
 Challenge programs – may use a wilderness component or
include activities involving human created challenges to
encourage behavior modification, which may include
intimidation tactics, cooperative games, trust activities, and
wilderness expeditions; generally focus on behavior
modification and can include a boot camp component

5. Types of Wilderness Programs
 Best way to identify a wilderness program is to determine
the significance of its outdoor component, typically
following one of the following formats:
 Base camp expedition (BE) – youth and leaders or team setting up base
camping area in remote and natural settings, generally lasting three to
eight weeks with expeditions lasting one to two weeks. During the
expeditions, youths are taken from base camps and backpack, canoe, or
raft.
 Contained expedition programs (CE) – take participants on expeditions
for the duration of the program, remaining as an intact unit for three to
four weeks.
 Continuous flow programs (CFE) – generally last up to eight weeks.
Referred to as “continuous flow” because expedition leaders do not stay
to entire duration of the trip; they work a few days, then take a few off.
New participants also may join the expedition in mid-program.
 Residential expedition programs

6. Types of Wilderness Programs
 WEPs can also be adjudicated or private placement program
 Adjudicated programs – also called court programs; often utilize base camp
supplemented by overnight wilderness excursions; typically require one-year
commitment as an alternative to incarceration. The typical participant has a
history with juvenile justice systems and is usually from a single parent, lower
income background with behavioral problems such as substance abuse, school
failure or dropout, sexual promiscuity, running away, and resistance to authority
 Private placement programs – most common type of contemporary WEP;
participants are typically White, male, age 13 to 17 years who are from middle to
upper class backgrounds that usually do not have previous involvement with the
justice system with no serious emotional problems; presented as options for
parents or custodians of troubled teens; youths have previously failed to benefit
from outpatient or community mental health programs; may serve as an
intervention

7. Types of Wilderness Programs
Adventure Based Therapy
 Consists of outdoor activities that are therapeutic
 May include group-based activities and outdoor intervention
methods such as: outdoor education; outdoor leadership training;
mountaineering; rock climbing; whitewater rafting; kayaking;
backpacking; expeditions
Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare
 Required to have clinically-licensed staff members available to youth
who have been adjudicated delinquent or youth with special needs
 Must have a treatment team present – clinical supervisor, medical
supervisor, field therapist, and wilderness guides
 Aimed at changing destructive, dysfunctional or problem behaviors
in clients through clinically supervised therapy, therapeutic activities
and educational programs in an outdoor setting

8. Types of Wilderness Programs
Wilderness Therapy
 Uses traditional counseling techniques in an outdoor setting that
incorporates adventure based activities
 Participants stay in an isolated area for anywhere from one week to one
month
Long-Term Residential Camping
 Forces the participants to provide for their own survival needs
 The wilderness component last throughout the entire program, from several
months to over a year
Wilderness Boot Camps
 Military style training program to shock offenders out of criminal behavior
 Characterized as: programs designed with military regimes and routines;
discipline and rules adopted from the armed services’ model; and secured
facility intended to be a community alternative to traditional prison

9. Effectiveness of Wilderness Programs
 In the past few decades, WEPs have become a popular intervention and
alternative to commitment for troubled adolescents
 Variations in WEPs make it difficult to measure effectiveness
 Studies have shown that participants in WEPs improved their behaviors and
had higher levels of positive self concept, self esteem and self image
 Believed to be effective in reducing recidivism, but only a few studies support it
 On the other hand, a series of deaths have been attributed to a lack of care
provided in some WEPs.
 A US Government Accountability Office review found that thousands of
allegations of abuse and highlighted ten fatalities
 In addition to serious injury or death, other problems are substandard
intervention and education by unqualified staff, failure to assess individual
needs, denial of access by parents to their children, and misrepresentation to
parents by program operators

10. The Future of WEPs in the Juvenile Justice System
 No longer merely alternatives for the worst adjudicated offender or
the wealthy troubled teen – some programs offer scholarships to
support youth who would otherwise be unable to participate
 The movement away from adventure and challenge oriented
programs toward an OBH model for troubled youth acknowledges
the important relationship between mental health and delinquency
 There is some evidence to show that wilderness programs do not
provide the range of services that troubled youth require
 The research has not conclusively demonstrated that wilderness
experience programs successfully reduce delinquency
 There is optimism that these programs can prevent some at-risk
youth from engaging in delinquent behavior and reduce recidivism
rates of youth who have been adjudicated delinquent