Substance use and mental health treatment aren’t achieved wholly indoors in therapy sessions with a counselor; some of the most invaluable treatment is experienced through wellness exercises outside in nature. We aim to prove this during our adventure and nature therapy programs. You’ll find Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center on a beautiful lakefront property, ideal for enjoying both indoor and outdoor experiential therapies. Adventure and nature therapies utilize guided outdoor access to create clarity for adolescents. This treatment allows them to understand the way their emotions can affect and drive substance use disorders.

ADVENTURE AND NATURE THERAPY PROGRAMS AS PART OF A WELL-ROUNDED TREATMENT

Substance use can tear a teen’s life apart. However, with the proper treatment, your adolescent can overcome it. Adventure and nature therapy programs are part of our holistic therapy options. Holistic therapies are therapies that can treat a person’s mind, body, and soul. These therapies are essential at our substance abuse treatment program because we know that the substance abuse disorder has touched every part of your teen’s life. Therefore, they need treatment that can heal each part.

Holistic treatments are only part of our treatment options. We also provide evidence-based treatments. These treatments are methods that experts in substance use disorder treatment have researched thoroughly, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). When we use these therapies in conjunction with holistic treatments such as adventure and nature therapy programs, teens are more likely to stay in recovery longer.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ADVENTURE

At our adventure and nature therapy for teen boys, we know the value of adventure. Adventure involves action and strategy, offering adolescents a variety of life skills they can later apply positively in life situations. Instead of relying exclusively on talk therapy, our adventure therapists take to the lake, woods, and hills.

Once there, we teach adolescents how to create a plan of action and put their minds to actively making progress. For instance, our teens take time to learn to scale the steep incline of a rock wall. That activity forces you to think strategically, challenge yourself physically, and make thoughtful choices. Merely visualizing climbing a mountain does not create the same urgency to make quick and strategic choices that a real-life situation can impose.

The coping skills your adolescent learns in treatment at Stonewater can be enhanced during Adventure & Nature Therapy while simultaneously teaching the importance of peer support and encouragement. Other therapy options we offer include:

  • Art Therapy
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
  • Boys’ Private School Program
  • Withdrawal Management Program

HOW DO ADVENTURE AND NATURE WORK TOGETHER TO COMBAT SUBSTANCE USE AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS?

A natural environment is a place where we can build on  structured therapies through peaceful and relaxing meditation in nature or a challenging experience outdoors. From methodical outdoor gardening to exciting ropes courses, our hands-on, interactive Adventure & Nature Therapy incorporates elements of nature and adventure to show adolescents new ways to enjoy the world without stress from previous experiences or relapse triggers. In nature, adolescents can have the freedom to focus on their thoughts and simply absorb and interact with the landscape surrounding them. Outside the confines of an indoor therapy space, our residents can practice what they have learned in other therapies, employing the skills of self-reflection, emotional processing and engagement of the senses through the natural and physical environment.

If you think your teen is ready to experience all the wonder of nature in therapy, contact Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center today at 662.373.2828.