- 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.

  - James Constant

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

A: I have my Masters degree in Psychology with a concentration in counseling. In graduate school, I worked with adolescents which I greatly enjoyed. After school, I got involved with an adult forensic population. I returned to work with teenagers at Adirondack Leadership Expeditions because I missed working with a more youthful population. I feel like I can make a bigger difference working with kids.

Q: Why do you think the wilderness is a good medium for therapy with adolescents?

A: A lot of young people can go into their weekly session and talk circles around their therapist. This process can go on for months in an office setting where the student shares enough to keep the process going and then runs out and engages in the same inappropriate behavior. Wilderness is more immediate. When a parent sends their child to wilderness, it is a powerful message. It is a jolt, and it is impossible for the student to fake his way through. When a student arrives at wilderness, he or she realizes more quickly that there is a lot of work to do and doing the work is the only way to transition out of here.

Q: What type of child do you most enjoy working with?

A: I think I work really well with emotionally fragile students: teenagers who are not the most socially adept, who could benefit from a strong dose of self confidence; for students who have been constantly stepping on emotional landmines at school or in their homes, I create an environment of safety with empathy and unconditional positive regard. There is something of worth within every adolescent. My students know that above all, I value them for who they are and help them get in touch with that value so we may build upon that.

Q: How do you incorporate the wilderness into your approach with a new student?

A: I immediately begin rapport building with a new student. I use humor a lot. It is essential for a new student to feel at ease as quickly as possible. I present the wilderness aspect of our program as a series of choices. It is a learning process for these students to see that their decisions have consequences. Many of the teenagers that I work with tend to think that their lot in life is a result of the ill winds of fate. A question that becomes particularly relevant in the wilderness is: does the world just happen to you, or do you set yourself up for success in the world?

Q: Do you address the family system as a whole?

A: Yes, the family system is integral to the state the child is presenting and to his or her healing. My approach with parents is no different than working with their child. I create an empathetic environment of support, while simultaneously helping the parents to gain insight into their own patterns. It is very powerful growth for the whole family when the parents accept and take on personal growth.

Q: What do you think of the ALE system of using letter writing as a therapeutic tool instead of phone calls?

A: Often times verbal communication is through the lens of emotion. Letter writing is a more intimate and often more thoughtful form of communication. It gives both the parents and the child a chance to sit and really think about what they want to say. In addition it allows for further processing alone or with a trusted staff or peer before a response is given.

Q: What are healthy expectations for parents to have of their teenager when he or she is transitioning out of wilderness?

A: It is important for the parents to realize that there is no magic bullet in therapy. There will be struggles ahead for the family. The seed has been planted, and positive changes will exist in the adolescent. Parents need to be ready for bumps in the road, and they need to be prepared for many different contingencies. As we teach the students to plan and set goals, we teach the parents the same strategy so if there is a relapse in their child's behavior they know how to accept this as part of the process and minimize it. When a kid moves on from wilderness, there is still work to be done. Where a kid is placed after wilderness depends on the family. I always stress having a good plan; some kids need a more intensive intervention than others. Questions like, 'how ingrained is the behavior pattern,' or 'how deep is the emotional hurt,' are important ones to ask before a child moves on from wilderness. I think educational consultants are absolutely key to this process.

Q: How do you measure the successfulness of wilderness therapy?

A: Every single student who comes to Adirondack Leadership Expeditions is bound to remember their experience here. Some students have a completely transformative experience, for others the change is more gradual, more subtle. We have gotten through on some level to all students. We have all had the experience of learning a lesson in the past that we did not heed. At some point, when one of our students is ready to think about his future, he will reflect on the lessons he learned here and utilize them. For these students, ALE is like a gift that has not yet been unwrapped. This sometimes makes a tangible way of measuring success difficult, because the success isn't always immediately evident, but it is certainly always there. The wilderness model makes some positive impact upon the lives of those who experience it. Of this I have no doubt.

  - Paul Deal

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

A: I studied, and am continuing to study Psychology, but I've also spent time researching other social and existential theories for pathology. I've taught at the high school level, and before coming to Adirondack Leadership Expeditions I worked at a residential treatment center for individuals who are mentally ill. I was a Senior Instructor in the field for a little over a year, before I was offered the position of Field Supervisor.

Q: Why do you think wilderness is such an effective intervention for adolescents?

A: Two reasons. First, wilderness allows for distractions to be pared away. This creates a picture of the student's clinical presentation at its most basic level. Secondly, wilderness provides an excellent experiential classroom. Kids learn about themselves out in the woods, and can change the story of their lives through metaphor.

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

A: I think wilderness is good for any kid. We work with typical teenagers that are disconnected and torn in several different directions. The innate hormonal changes that accompany adolescence, plus the pressures of family, culture, and media, make life pretty tough for teenagers.

Q: What type of adolescent do you most enjoy working with?

A: I like to work with bright students, who have lost their way. I think I am particularly successful with students who are predisposed to search for meaning or purpose in their lives, but have become sidetracked or lost in a world of pain, destructive behaviors, and dysfunction.

Q: How do you address the family system as a whole?

A: I encourage each family member to give an honest account of relevant factors, and try to create healing for the whole family through psycho-education, family sessions, and letter writing. More specifically, I take an inventory of the family issues insofar as they are relevant to their child’s growth process.

Q: Why do you consider letter writing to be such an integral part of the wilderness therapy process?

A: Letter writing allows for everyone to be one step removed from their old patterns, whether those be bargaining, manipulation, negotiation, or poor communication. It challenges everyone to really think about what they want to say. Letter writing creates space to communicate the essentials of what needs to be said and processed to the extent of the individual’s need.

Q: What are healthy expectations for parents to have when they send their child to wilderness?

A: Wilderness provides two basic things: assessment and treatment. First, we get an in-depth picture of the particular student's gifts and challenges. Because wilderness is an environment in which we can control and manipulate the variables, we can focus on responding to the particular student’s needs rather than just reaching out to them. Second, we build treatment around each student, which helps wilderness to be a self-esteem fostering experience for every student that is enrolled.

Q: How do you handle the transition out of wilderness, both for the child and their family?

A: Part of my job is to accurately assess what type of aftercare is going to give a particular student and his or her family the best long term outcome. Therefore, I need to set both the student and the family up with healthy expectations for what will come with transitioning out of wilderness. For parents, I do my best to equip them with a plan, as well as a realistic understanding of their child's needs. This may entail individual, family, or marriage counseling, or it could simply involve being more intentional about the time spent together as a family. It is also important for parents to be realistic about the probability of behavioral relapse, and learn how to take it in stride without a complete regression. Throughout a child’s transition, both the child and the parents need to keep their focus positive.

With the student, my primary goal is to emphasize the strides they have made. Ideally, they have created a new leadership oriented identity in wilderness, and I want to support them in applying this as much as possible after wilderness. As a student moves on to aftercare, whether that be to boarding school or home, it is crucial that we celebrate their accomplishments. Each student needs to recognize his or her strengths, as we’ve seen those strengths develop in wilderness, and be confident about applying them in their next placement.

  - Christine Riley

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  - Sara View

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