By Hugh C. McBride
Every few weeks or so, in a rudimentary campsite in the Idaho desert, a group of parents and children sit down for a meal of calzones stuffed with pepperoni. The doughy "delicacies" are burned around the edges, suffused with a smoky scent, and probably way too gooey in the middle - in other words, the kind of food you'd send back with the delivery person if it came from the Italian take-out place down the street.
For most of the families, it may well be the best meal they've ever eaten.
The calzone meal comes near the end of an innovative Family Camp sponsored by the SUWS wilderness therapy program. Timed to occur about halfway through a student's stay at SUWS, the Family Camps reunite parents and children for a wilderness-based experience designed to emphasize effective communication and focus participants' attention on overcoming the challenges of transitioning beyond SUWS. Whether a child returns home or enrolls in a longer term treatment facility, the family dynamics have been addressed and helped
Kathy Rex, the program's executive director, said the Family Camp concept is the latest in a long line of developments designed to reinforce and expand upon the lessons learned during students' SUWS experience.
"With nearly 30 years of experience working with families, we have learned what to do and what not to do," said Kathy Rex, SUWS' executive director. "Based on our observations, SUWS staff has gone to great efforts to wrap its arms around the entire family, not just the child."
Staff therapist Jerri Dee Harvey echoed Rex's observations, noting that the Family Camp emphasizes the SUWS philosophy that "wilderness isn't a place you send your kid - it's a place you sign up your whole family."
Bringing Families Together
According to SUWS clinical director Jeff Derry, the Family Camp is a chance for family members to take a step toward healthy reconciliation in a structured and highly supportive manner. "It creates an opportunity for families to come out and try the new skills and strategies that they've been learning," Derry said.
And if problems do occur during the time the parents and children are together, Derry said, the SUWS counselors and therapists who participate in the camp can readily address the matter and work with the families to find solutions. "We can identify issues that families need to work on," he said, "and we can ensure that they're not falling back into old patterns." SUWS staff guides them in the healing process.
As is the case in all aspects of the SUWS experience, Derry said, the Family Camp offers the opportunity for participants to benefit from spontaneous incidents - even those that may not initially appear to be positive events, such as arguments. "We work off of teachable moments," he said. "We can coach them on effective communication."
Preparing For A Reunion
Before they get to the calzones, the parents and children who participate in the SUWS Family Camp will have undergone significant preparation for their reunion in the wilderness.
The students will have completed several weeks in the SUWS program, learning wilderness survival skills, enhancing their sense of self-reliance and confidence, and making productive contributions to their "family group" (the other youth with whom they are living). While the youth were learning the initial lessons in the wilderness, their parents were consulting with SUWS therapists via regular telephone conversations, and completing a detailed self-evaluation.
"We talk to our parents a lot, and we help them understand what to expect [at the Family Camp]," Derry said. "We help them set goals [for the reunion], and there's even a 14-page packet that they complete before they come out here."
Working Toward A Common Goal
When the parents arrive at the SUWS base camp, they go through a wilderness orientation class similar to the one their children received, including instruction in packing a backpack and setting up a campsite, and an introduction to "good healthy wilderness food" such as pita bread with peanut butter and honey.
During the time the families are together in the wild, they participate in an experience that is similar in both style and content to the one the youth are progressing through with their counselors and family groups.
"We do a lot of what we call 'ground work,'" Derry said. "We hike across some relatively mild terrain [and] we do a lot of team-building exercises and a low ropes course." Because the students have a bit more experience with these types of endeavors, they are put in the unique position of being able to provide constructive guidance to their elders.
"The kids are motivated. They get to be the teacher for their parents," Derry said. And on the occasions when the youth are struggling, too (as SUWS activities are not designed to be immediately accomplished) they realize there is always more to learn. "The kids see their parents using new skills [and] the parents see that it's OK for their kids to fail."
Honesty & Openness
While engaging in these physical activities, the youth and their parents are also progressing through a series of challenges designed to improve their communication skills and enhance their ability to work together and trust each other.
"Our field supervisors - master's level counselors - work with the families to review their histories, create a family creed, and try out the skills and strategies they have been working on," Derry said. The families also participate in "truth circles" - a standard component of the SUWS experience in which participants voice honest and sometimes intense emotions and opinions to the entire group.
The results are often both intense and enlightening, Derry said. "I've seen kids confront their parents about their [the parents'] behavior and lack of communication," he said. "But by the end of the process, they're changed in a positive way."
Another benefit and unique aspect of this experience is that the group of parents support one another in effecting change within themselves. Poor habits in family dynamics have taken years to develop and the adults see themselves in others, realize they are not alone, and offer support and honesty to each other.
Celebrating Success
One of the families' final challenges during their time together is to construct a stone oven - an achievement that they will celebrate by using it to cook those piping-hot calzones stuffed with pepperoni. Though a few weeks earlier they would likely have eaten similar food without a second thought, the time, effort, and togetherness that went into this meal guarantees that the event is appreciated.
"They're energized," Derry said. "They're proud of what they accomplished."
The accomplishments of the Family Camp will be built upon after the parents have returned home and the youth have headed back to their family groups in the desert. "We try to schedule a phone session with a therapist [for the parents] as soon as possible," Derry said, while the onsite counselors have the opportunity to work with the students on any issues that may have arisen during the time the family was together.
"At the same time teens are growing and learning new skills, parents are embracing new ways to interact with their child so that the entire family dynamic improves," Rex said. "We had high hopes for the family camp, and the results we've achieved have exceeded those expectations. The camps have greatly enhanced our efforts to bring the entire family into the SUWS experience."
Rex isn't the only one to have a positive view of SUWS's latest family-oriented outreach effort:
"Family Camp is invaluable," he said. "It's the next step in the evolution of the industry."