Wilderness therapy programs helps change destructive environments
The term, wilderness therapy programs, can mean different things to different people. In fact, unless you have been involved with a home for troubled teens, there seems to be little difference between the different types of programs. However, nothing could be further from the truth. There is a great deal of difference in objectives, the types of problems handled, and the intended outcome from using a program. Arivaca Boys Ranch conducts wilderness therapy programs with a difference—using equine therapy, individual therapy, relationship development, and academic achievement helps build lasting changes.
A change in environment is usually necessary
Wilderness therapy programs were developed first and foremost to provide a change of environment conducive to behavior modification and to remove the teen boys from a comfort zone that is disruptive and destructive. Arivaca Boys Ranch augments the wilderness therapy programs using equine therapy and academic recovery. Still, the basics to behavior modification must include individual counseling and group therapy. No matter how good the therapy is, it can quickly be neutralized by bad friendships.
Many teen boys develop a comfort zone supported by friends who influence inappropriate behavior. Such a destructive environment includes peer pressure that invites your son into drug or alcohol abuse, a disdain for school, and a disrespect for parents and other authority figures. While in this comfort zone, especially when the teenager is suffering from control issues, home life can become unbearable. Talking does not help because there is no inherent respect for parents. General behavior is out of control and that makes life very difficult for siblings and parents alike. In order to make any headway with such behavior, a change in environment is necessary; behavior modification with that kind of environmental pressure simply is not possible.
Arivaca Boys Ranch is a real, working horse ranch
Arivaca Boys Ranch is a working horse ranch where residents have the responsibility of training horses and using them to help them carry out their duties on the horse ranch. Arivaca is located southwest of Tucson about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico and in the wide open spaces of the Southwest. With excellent year-round weather, Arivaca is a great place to enjoy regular outdoor activities. Arivaca Boys Ranch provides a haven away from a destructive environment.
Equine therapy facilitates wonderful advances
Central to the Arivaca program is a method of behavior modification therapy known as equine therapy. We use Arabian and half-Arabian horses because they mimic and reflect the human behavior of these boys so well. Strong-willed and independent, Arabian horses cannot be persuaded to do anything by force. Yelling doesn't help either. In fact, none of the usual patterns work in the same way these boys have come to influence their own home environment. Each boy learns through first-hand experience that change in their behavior is needed to accomplish goals. This in turn helps them to develop an ability to see through another's eyes and their success helps to build back self-confidence and self-esteem. For more detail about the wonders of equine therapy, see the article on this website, "Equine Therapy Solidifies Behavior Adjustments" There is no question about it: equine therapy improves lives.
Learning to build positive relationships
Second, building new relationships outside the destructive environment of friends at home is another important aspect. Not only do the boys build strong and respectful relationships with their horses and with each other, but they learn to build solid relationships with the adults at the ranch—sometimes the first positive relationships these boys have had with adults in years or, perhaps, ever.
Individual counseling helps them relate to new experiences
Third, In addition to the positive effects of working with horses and in teams with others, each boy has the opportunity for individual counseling and therapy as well as a chance to participate in group therapy sessions where failures, successes, and all other experiences can be explored. Individual therapy helps relate what each boy is learning about working with the horses and relationships with others and how it relates to the successes and failures each is experiencing in their own lives. Parents are in integral part of personal and group therapy. Parents also have need of counseling to review the actions that have been successful and unsuccessful and how to modify speech and action to gain positive results with their sons. Parents have opportunities to participate in seminars and workshops and also interact in sessions with their son to learn new communication and disciplining skills.
Academics must get back on track
The fourth basic structure that makes Arivaca Boys Ranch so effective is the reconstruction of successful academic standing. With small group instruction and plenty of one-on-one tutoring, students soon learn that learning can again be fun and interesting. Most of all, they can find that they can be successful at it and how good that feels. Arivaca Boys Ranch maintains a fully-accredited high school where students can earn real, transferrable high school credit and even graduate from high school.
Typical wilderness therapy programs are not the same thing
Not all wilderness programs are successful. They are successful at removing the boy from his destructive environment but most programs do not hold boys long enough to make sure true behavior modification has taken place. Typically, wilderness therapy programs last only six to eight weeks where the boys live off the land and outdoors. That isn't long enough or intense enough to effect real changes in behavior.
The stay at Arivaca Boys Ranch is usually between three to ten months or typically about the length of a school year. In that way, we can overcome much of the immediate resistance to behavior change. In short stays, residents soon learn they can manipulate their way home by a short stint of walking the walk and talking the talk. That does not work over the long haul without substantive changes in behavioral make up and attitudes.
It isn't over when it's over
All students who have completed a 10-month program has additional access to their therapist for hour-long sessions, as needed, for three more months. If after six months, a little more time is seen to be needed, your son can be re-admitted for a month at half the contracted tuition. The reason is, we want to see that changes stick, and that all of us are successful in getting your son back on track. See what is included in our program.
Contact us at Arivaca Boys Ranch. Let us describe in greater detail how we can help you get back the son you thought you had. If you like, fill out the short form on the Contact Us page of our website and we will get in touch with you.
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