His scent. His clothes. His words. He wasn't what I wanted my big brother, Jack, to be like. With bloodshot eyes, he looked through everyone and everything that surrounded him; he was lost and didn't care what my parents said. He did what he wanted. Coming home late smelling of marijuana and alcohol, he was simply careless. I would lie in bed and listen to the screaming and arguing, while a river of tears would stream down my face.
As a child, I didn't understand. Why does he have to do whatever he's doing? All I wanted was a brother who would protect me from the big scary monsters under my bed and the "bad guys" who only lived in the movies. My parents did their best to try to explain to me what was happening in my brother's life, but they never really got to the point of why he was doing it. Him being their first teenager, it seemed they were just as confused as I was on his reasoning.
When Jack graduated and moved onto college, my parents thought he would turn his life around, but unsurprisingly, he failed to do so. I used to watch my mother tap her tired hands on the keyboard for hours, researching ways to handle "out-of-control" children. Luckily, she came across a program, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and thought it was worth a try to discuss the program with Jack. I eavesdropped on my parents conversation with Jack and the second I saw a slight gleam of interest in his eyes for going on a semester long trip in Colorado that focused on outdoor skills, leadership and environmental ethics, I knew my parents would sign him up.
The next semester rolled around and off to the airport my mother, father, sister, Jack, and I went. It was time for my brother to say goodbye, only to return in three months time. I saw worr...
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...ome. Due to this wilderness therapy process, outcomes for participants are long-term and positive! In hindsight, wilderness therapy is a very effective form of treatment for at-risk youth because the participants get to experience therapy in a whole new light and overcome obstacles mentally and physically while being completely immersed in the outdoors and surrounded by people in similar situations. It’s hard to imagine that my brother was one of those “people”. Today, when I look at my brother, I no longer see the blank, blood shot stare that never used to leave his eyes. I see wisdom. I see growth. I see Jack.
Works Cited
"Dangers of Wilderness Programs." Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic &
Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment. Alliance for the Safe,
Therapeutic and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment, 5 Feb. 2014. Web.
18 Mar. 2014.
Max Oelschlaeger is an American ecological philosopher and works with the Center for Environmental Philosophy at the University of North Texas. Besides The Idea of Wilderness, Caring for Creation and The Environmental Imperative are two of his other books. The Idea of Wilderness won the Texas Institute of Letters’ 1991 Carr P. Collins Award and the 1998 San Antonio Conservation Society award. Oelschlager argues that the change of the idea of nature to the idea of wilderness has changed through the writings of environmentalist, scientist and that religion has played a huge impact on how we view and understand our relationship to nature. He hopes that humans realize their relationship with nature and learns to appreciate what nature has to offer. Oelschlaeger uses more archaeology evidence and reports and other works written by environmentalist and theologists.
Richard Louv explains how people can find “freedom, fantasy, and privacy… a separate peace” (7) in nature. Many researchers are becoming aware of the positive effects nature can provide. Previous generations often tell stories of their childhood; stories about running around in fields or woods. They talk about how it gave them feelings of euphoria and freeness. Nowadays, rarely will one hear of today’s children telling similar stories. With more time being spent indoors, doing homework, and using technology, there are fewer kids enjoying the wonders of the outdoors. Studies have shown that children, and people in general, should spend more time in nature. Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods discusses how people are negatively affected without exposure to nature; there are vital steps that individuals, communities, and the nation can take to help with nature-deficit disorder.
Chris McCandless saw the wilderness as an escape from reality or as a better reality where he could be free of the pressures of life. “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence” (Krakauer 22). He thought that being isolated in the wilderness would provide liberation from the woes of existing in society.
Whether you are simply going camping at a commercial campground, taking a short hike, or backpacking into a pristine wilderness area... be prepared. Never leave to chance those few articles that may become lifesavers. Above all, always let someone know your itinerary and the time you plan to return. The following is a list of items that should be included in a basic survival kit: bodyOffer(17619)You May Be Owed
It had been a decade since I camped last, and I recalled it being a jam packed, smokey, noisy family campground. I had only been camping in the “real woods” once, and that was literally decades ago - four of them. And now, Wendy, who is a self-proclaimed Queen-of-the-wilderness, introduced a weekend in the interior of Algonquin Park as one of our - Canadian Destinations.
... D. (1999). How wilderness therapy works: An examination of the wilderness therapy process to treat adolescents with behavioral problems and addictions. Retrieved from http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/wrc/publications/montana1.pdf
While on the surface it may appear that moving therapy sessions into nature can do nothing but benefit the client and perhaps the therapist as well, is there empirical evidence to support this claim? The APA adopted a policy statement that says in part, “clinical decisions should be made in collaboration with the patient, based on the best clinically relevant evidence, and with consideration for the probable costs, benefits, and available resources and options,” (APA, 2005). This means that interventions used should have the research to back them up and all available options should be considered. This puts those wanting to seriously consider moving psychotherapy into nature in an interesting position, as the research currently in the field is weak and lacking. There is not much evidence based research done on the subject for or against at the current moment. Only a wealth of theoretical discussions and writings on personal anecdotal evidence, which both can be valuable but to an extent. While these are great building blocks for the budding of a new idea, the only way to be considered seriously is to have the structured data to back up the claims. This has been noted in the field of ecotherapy as a whole as well. As Marguerite O’Haire of Purdue University notes, “research of the quantitative effects of nature-assisted practices is quite limited.
The wilderness allows people to escape the crazy hectic lives they live daily and just unwind. Chris McCandless was “ unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart,” throughout his soul-searching journey in the wilderness (Krakauer 31). Many people like Chris will experience different sensations in the serene wilderness, however it calls
Chuck Smith stated, “The wilderness experience is necessary in order that they might have the experiences of trusting in God, learning what it is to have faith in God, learning the power of God.” Being from Colorado I have grown up and grown to love the wilderness, having most of my childhood memories involving forests, big open fields, mountains, rivers, creeks or aspen groves. However, now that I am here in at CCBC, I am experiencing more of a metaphorical wilderness experience than I ever had before. I have had to trust God in more areas than I ever had before. Coming from a very difficult ending to my summer, to an unexpected loss, but I am here. I am here and I
My brother is a real person that is silly and rude and fabricates lies to my parents about things that I don’t do. Mr.Krupp is obviously a fictional character because he is a character in a fictional book. You can tell he is fictional because on page 34 the book describes Mr.Krupp and what he looks like. My brother is clearly a non fictional character because he is a human being. My brother is silly because I see all of his idiotic clothes in his closet and also see him wearing them. He is mean because he blames everything on me and that’s really arduous to deal with because my mom always believes
...l as a number of techniques that can be used with clients and can also be applied when using other forms of therapy. REBT is applicable to the outdoor setting and can also work with clients in individual, group, family, or couples counseling. Because of REBT’s short and effective use, as well as its ability to be applied to many forms of therapy, especially in the outdoor setting, I have chosen it to be my theoretical orientation at this point in my Adventure Therapy career.
The fact that my dad believed that boys and girls are different caused plenty of problems between my brother and I. even though I’m older, my little brother got way more freedom than I ever got. I had to learn to drive from one of my father girlfriends because he refused to teach me, mind you he started teaching
So who defines leadership? What is a leader and how would you raise these skills
Just because something is small doesn't mean that it's not powerful and effective. In fact, we are living in a world where everything is compact from dishwashers to cars to multi tools. Throughout my day, I never know where I'll end up as a free lance handyman who loves to hunt, so I always make a habit of carrying tools with me. I found the perfect multipurpose tool after reading a Gerber multi tools review.
he tried to hide his fear, I knew he was afraid when my father would go on a