I would like to hear from Gamers/ ex-gamers who have gone to Wilderness Therapy as young adults. I would like to hear how one selects the treatment center. Any experiences from parents. I am hoping that I will know WHERE I want to send my 21 year old, when and IF, he would agree to go. Thank you for your help.
This is a great post. I would like to get some information also. Has anyone ever heard of or gone to a Wilderness program through the Aspen educational group?
My son's wilderness therapy and therapeutic boarding school were owned by Aspen Education Group. He is still game-free after more than 3 years. A caveat is that the boarding school had been recently purchased by Aspen, and had previously been run by an individual. Aspen consolidated and closed them both about a year later. I have also heard of Urschel Recovery Science Institute in Dallas, TX. If nothing else, it might be worth a call to them to find out what they have and/or can recommend.
I did speak with Aspen Education Group's wilderness program. They have two centers, one in NC and one in UT. The one in UT deals with process addiction (such as online video games). It is called Passage to Recovery.
It is a 60 to 90 day program. In order to get into the program, the adult child needs to be agree to it, so if your son (like mine), doesnt agree to go, you may need to obtain help from a "intervention specialist". Aspen can give you that info.
Once you do the 15 page application, then, they determine if they have a current group that your son can fit in (as they are based on rotating vs starting everyone at the same time). The fit is based on age and the addictions. The adult child also needs to be in good physical shape. The groups are 6-8 people and they live basically in tents for that amount of time, each day doing group and indivual therapy.
They did tell me that if someone goes in there and they want to get out, then they allow them to do that (but the process is long).
The cost is very expensive... It is something like $470/day and $2K for the initial camp gear, etc. After the 60-90 day program, then they need to be situated in an area where they can not go bck to gaming, so there is maintance program after that (but most likely if you are not in one of their cities, it would be done by a local pyschologist).
There is also another program in WA called "reStart" (http://www.netaddictionrecovery.com/). It specializes in net addiction and it is mostly outdoor, but they live in a building, rather than camping out. Their next program starts on Jan 4th, 2010. It is a 45-60 day program.
Hope this helps.
FYI, the thread reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Center opens in Fall City, Washingon has links to a few pertinent articles regarding this new Washington program.
Good luck in finding one that is available and suitable to your situation.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)
Yes, it's darned expensive. I think we dropped somewhere close to 40K on just the first 30 days for enrollment, psychological evaluation, transport, etc.
I sometimes watch the show Intervention. One of the things that I have noticed (and have experienced with a family member) is that 60 days is seldom enough for the true addict in denial. I think 6 months is a much more realistic expectation. I feel as close to certain as I can that if we'd brought our son home after 60 days in wilderness, we would not have had success.
My son has one friend from boarding school with whom he's still in touch. He, too, had a long time there and in recovery. He hadn't even finished high school because of his addiction. After boarding school he got his GED and managed a 4.0 at a local, community college. Now he's on to a 4 year university and is a member of a "gentlemen's" fraternity.
And last but not least, I can't stress enough the importance of family. My son has told us on numerous occasions that the kids who did the best were ones who came from stable, loving families. I can tell by the posts from the parents here that your families are much like ours. We all just got a bit blindsided and then fractured due to an unknown.
Thank you Wowparent for sharing. Its very encouraging to see such bravery & caring on your part. I am very glad to hear your son is doing so well.
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other" -Abraham Lincoln
That's a lot of money. 40K!! How old was your son when he entered treatment, and how long was he under care?
From reading different posts, I think I have gathered that your son was around 17 when you intervened? Is that correct? My son turned 21 in November. He still does not talk to us and I am waiting, hopefully, for the day he realizes he is going nowhere fast. Our family really is not in a position to spend 40K. We had put away about 10K for him (without his knowledge) to help him out in life because he once was pursuing a goal of community service. Now he works, goes home, plays games and lives in filth. No social life, no moral life. He doesn't know about the money we saved for him NOR could we tell him about it once this addiction was known. (I could forsee the manipulation) Now, I can see using that money for therapy, but he is no longer on our insurance. I desperately want to give my son the tools that will help him recover, but I know that FORCED therapy has a minimum chance of success as compared to him finally realizing that he needs help and willingly submitting to get help. But where does the average family get 40K? How many days in treatment did it take to amount to that amount of money? Was that spread out over a few years?
Yes, our son left for therapy just days after his 17th birthday. We were well aware of the fact that we were still able to make him go against his will and make him stay there until he was 18. It was our plan.
Yes, the cost is astronomical. The 40K paid for the first 30 days. We emptied his college account and our savings account to pay for it. As for the rest...we're still paying, some on credit cards and some on long-term educational loans. It's been more than 3 years and we have a long way to go.
Our son is 16 and currently in private counseling. I have spoke with program counselors at Aspen Group (we strongly considered the program in Utah), Redcliff Ascent, Anasazi Program in Arizona, and Catherine Freer in Oregon. All the 30-60 day wilderness therapy programs are expensive, priced about the same $375-465/day plus equipment fees. Since we are in Oregon, we would probably choose the Catherine Freer program, because they will work with our Oregon insurance, which will pay a small portion of the cost. I know that we could not afford the boarding school option, but would continue with private counseling following the wilderness program. Our son is in denial and we haven't even discussed these programs with him yet. Our plan is to enroll him in the wilderness program by end of the school year if we don't see much progress. I would take out a loan if I had to.
Hello Mamabear,
Good luck with your son. I am not familiar with your situation (the extent of the gaming addiction, how it has affected his life, family life, etc.) We sent our son to Second Nature Wilderness in Santa Clara Utah about 18 months ago. I was hoping that the wilderness program would be sufficient for our son, but it didn't seem like it was so we sent him to the Oakley School in Oakley Utah after ~9 or 10 weeks in wilderness. Wilderness programs are wonderful...out in the middle of nowhere the teens can not play games (use drugs, etc.) so they are really able to clear their heads. There is also alot of therapy...basically everything has a therapeutic purpose. Unfortunately, for most teens (and families) this short break from reality is not adequate. But it is a great start. My suggestion (not that you asked for it, but wanted to respond to your post) I think that if you can afford to send your son through a Wilderness Program and then can REALLY follow the no-gaming advice you will find on this message board (your home is a game-free zone) you may be able to help your son. The wilderness therapist should be able to help you develop a transition contract, which your son would need to follow if he is to be allowed to live at your home. I would also suggest that you keep your son as busy as possible when he completes the program...these screen addicted teens do not do well with free time.
My son will be graduating from the Oakley School in two weeks and coming home for the summer. It is a scary time but we have seen so much growth in our son (and ourselves) over the past year and 1/2 that I am hopeful that we will not return to the life we had before sending him away.
Please keep in touch!
Mambear, we had the same experience as medicmomma. We knew that 60 days in wilderness had been game-free but our son still was no where near ready to return home and begin a new lifestyle. He spent an additional 8 months in a therapeutic boarding school. Both were Aspen facilities.
The good news is that for us, it definitely worked. He starts his 4th and final year of college this summer and will graduate on time with the rest of his friends. He hasn't and doesn't game, and I think that's partly because he's found so many other things to do in life that interest him more.
I know this thread is old, but this information about Teen Wilderness Porgrams might still be useful to anyone interested in wilderness therapy programs. (For more information, look up Teen Wilderness Programs on Google). The site offers everything you need to know about teenage problems, its causes and the things you can do to counteract it.
Wilderness therapy programs are rapidly becoming a highly recommended method of assisting troubled teens with emotional, addiction, adjustment and psychological problems. It has been shown by studies that the actual setting has a hugely beneficial benefit to the residents.
Hi Nicole.
Thank you for your input.
I am trying to figure out what the site is exactly about. Is it true that the site only tries to inform on wilderness camps? I am clicking and clicking, but I cannot find any information on how to enroll or find an actual wilderness camp.
Could you tell a bit more on what this site can do for me?
If you know, could you also tell a bit about who the authors are? I am unable to find anything. Could you also tell us what your relation is to this site, please?
(Sorry for all the questions, I am a bit of a curious cat :-). )
"I want to see people and I want to see life."
Hi Steele, I have no relationship to the site, but I found the information on it useful. By the looks of things there's a contact form that will help match your needs with a particular centre but I have no idea who publishes it - It has got Turningwinds.com ads all over it, so maybe they run it... I have no idea really. I just had a look on their site and found this info graphic which is pretty interesting - http://www.turningwinds.com/stats/infographic/