- Dean Everritt

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Q: What is your educational and vocational background that led you to Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: I earned my Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work in 1999. Since then I have counseled adolescents and their families in various residential treatment settings, the last three years working in wilderness therapy at ALE.

Q: Why did you personally make the shift from residential treatment to the wilderness model?

A: I have a combined passion for working with children and their families, as well as being physically active in the outdoors. Plus, I find wilderness therapy to have a high level of effectiveness.

Q: How do you find wilderness to be so effective?

A: The primary reason that wilderness works is that it provides specific opportunities to build self esteem. It does this in four ways. First, wilderness helps teens overcome challenges and overcome self-perceived limitations. Second, it gives them a sense of competence. Thirdly, wilderness enables teens to create healthy reciprocal relationships. And finally, it teaches them to give back to their community. Putting adolescents out in the middle of the woods removes all the usual distractions, temptations, and stressors of their daily lives. When one finds oneself in such a simple, basic environment and recognizes the system of support we provide for them, the potential for change is infinite.

Q: What type of adolescent works well in a wilderness program such as Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: We can work with various types of challenging behaviors, but the adolescents that thrive the most in wilderness are unconfident, egocentric, entitled, oppositional defiant, and impulsive. However, we also do well with students who need time and support in processing issues of grief, loss, and trauma. We believe that every teens' behavior is an expression of an emotional need, so we spend a great deal of time examining specific behaviors to determine what need they are attempting to fill. After this assessment, we proceed to help the kids develop better, more healthy strategies to get their needs met.

Q: What type of student do you specifically work well with?

A: I work well with students who have ADHD, substance abuse issues, and those who are hurt, angry, and put on a tough exterior to feel safe and in control. I also enjoy helping young men and older men work through "father-son issues."

Q: What are healthy expectations for parents to have during and after their child's stay at Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: We provide parents with in-depth updates on the progress of their child, and we also offer parenting education. Parents need to be prepared for us to identify and explore all maladaptive behaviors and coping mechanisms not only with their child, but within the family system as well. It is crucial that parents are honest in giving us a thorough family history; this helps provide tremendous insight into the family and child. It is also crucial that parents are willing to be engaged in the process, and do their own homework.

Q: When it comes to transitioning out of wilderness, how do you address the family system as a whole?

A: Core human change is a process that takes place over nine to eighteen months. It is important to remember that we do not fix teenagers; we begin the process of healing. Wilderness is an ideal setting for assessing students' needs because the kids receive constant supervision. Coping patterns and behavioral disorders are more effectively and efficiently noted in wilderness, than in a traditional 50 minute office session. Because of quick, proper pattern assessment, we initiate and accelerate the change process for adolescents. We then aid in providing information and insight to the family regarding aftercare for the particular student. We experience the highest levels of success for our students when the appropriate systems are applied fully and consistently after the student leaves wilderness. Once the student has the experience of reaping the benefits of their better choices at ALE, this typically increases their tendency to reach for support and continue to make better choices elsewhere.

- Brandon Roman

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Q: What is your educational and vocational background that led you to Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: I earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from SUNY Oswego and a Master's of Science in Mental Health Counseling from SUNY New Paltz. Prior to working as a wilderness therapist at ALE, I worked with adolescents and adults as a substance abuse counselor. In addition to providing group and individual therapy, I have worked as part of a contract agency for Dutchess County Department of Social Services, assessing families for service needs.

Q: How do you find wilderness to be so effective?

A: Wilderness programs remove adolescents from environments that are filled with the distractions and negative influences that perpetuate their self-defeating behaviors. Our staff, me included, provides immediate feedback to guide students towards making positive choices; we work with students in a calm manner, and will not debate or criticize and simply allow the environment to provide the natural and logical consequences for poor choices. Overcoming the challenges that the wilderness naturally provides allows for a great sense of accomplishment and improves self-esteem. Also, being a member of a group in this environment promotes accountability for how one's actions affect others.

Q: What type of adolescent works well in a wilderness program such as Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: ALE works well with adolescents who are "stuck" in behaviors and thought patterns that are damaging to themselves and those around them. This includes defiance and disrespect to parents and authority, entitlement issues, depression, drug and alcohol use, and academic struggles. Wilderness programs are great for teenagers who have a low sense of self-efficacy, self-worth, and self-esteem. Our program provides opportunities for these teens to turn their "I can't" and "I won't" statements into "I did" and "I will."

Q: What type of student do you specifically work well with?

A: I work well with students who are “in conflict” with their parents and are having difficulties forming and maintaining relationships with their peers. For whatever reason, these students struggle to form healthy relationships with those around them. What I find is that these teens have difficulties identifying and appropriately expressing their emotions, which very often is where the work begins. I will work in a direct manner with your child to help them identify what they are thinking and or feeling and help them to reshape their misperceptions of other people rather than simply reacting. I have also had success working with teens who struggle with substance abuse, core self-esteem issues, and ADD/ADHD and other LD issues.

Q: What are healthy expectations for parents to have during and after their child's stay at Adirondack Leadership Expeditions?

A: ALE excels at moving our students from a place of denial about their problems toward a place where their struggles are acknowledged and life changes can begin to be made. Parents can expect their children to be challenged to grow while always being in the care and supervision of well-trained staff. Field supervisors (therapists) like me will provide parents with weekly updates on their son or daughter's progress. In those updates, we will offer our clinical impressions/insights that will illuminate for you what is driving your son or daughter to act out, how we are addressing these behaviors, and ultimately what you can do to help support and sustain the progress that your child has made in our program. Parents should expect and be prepared to examine how their family system as a whole operates. This calls for a willingness to acknowledge how their own actions may contribute to the behaviors or symptoms that their child exhibits. We will also provide you with education and recommendations that make aftercare transitions more manageable.

  - Christine Riley

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