Therapeutic Excursions are where challenges and actions meet to foster change. By going out and facing unknown challenges with a dedicated care team, participants are able to apply learned tools, and emerge from the experience feeling successful and empowered.
C.C. We Adapt creates a safe, supportive, structured, fun, challenging, and fast-paced environment, such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, or backpacking. Within this context, youth experience challenges: meet and interact with peers, listen and follow instructions, and face obstacles in the environment, all of which becomes a microcosm of what they experience at home, school, or in the community. Our trauma-informed, person-centered approach allows participants to be supported in processing and overcoming challenges, thereby increasing self-efficacy, mindfulness, patience, comfort with new environments and experiences, emotional regulation and frustration tolerance, teamwork and cooperation, communication skills, interpersonal relationships, anxiety management, and much more.
The therapeutic milieu is a structure environment that creates a safe, secure place for people who are in therapy. The therapeutic environment supports the individual in their process toward recovery and wellness, involving both the provision of safe physical surroundings, and also the supportive therapists and staff. We coordinate with the participants’ treatment goals, providers, and family needs and concerns to create an environment that balances structure and spontaneity, with minimal work for families and service facilitators. The combined elements of positive peer influence, trust, safety, and repetition create an ideal setting that’s fun, engaging, and contributes to progress and development of ongoing therapeutic goals.
Role of the Services Facilitator and Counselors
Prior to the excursion, the youth’s service facilitator or counselor should discuss the trip with the participant to build excitement, review the activities, highlight challenge by choice (if there are reservations). We don’t make participants do things that are too far outside of comfort zone, but we do set up a scenario where they can experience the success of attempting tough things even if they don’t complete them (e.g., “if you make it to the top – perhaps the route was too easy”). The service facilitator or counselor should discuss the participant’s personal goals and how these might relate to excursion activities and objectives. Service notes from excursion therapist and Individual Skill Development and Enhancement (ISDE) will highlight connections between ongoing treatment goals, excursion interventions, and insights to integrate into treatment going forward.
Staff
Dr. Joe Abhold (psychologist), and Dr. Alison Jones (psychiatrist), are the psychotherapy and med management providers for therapeutic excursions. C.C. We Adapt mentors are the ISDE providers for these excursions. For technical activities (rock climbing, climbing walls, ice climbing) we hire professional guides.
If providers have any questions or concerns about administrative matters, please direct these to David Carlson (david@ccweadapt.com). Clinical questions about referring youth should be directed to Joe Abhold (drjoeabhold@gmail.com).