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Wilderness Camp Helps Heal
By
Pola Rosen, Ed.d.
By
the time Jacqueline Danforth, a Dalton student, was fifteen years
old, she was into drugs, gangs, and alcohol. It was time for drastic
action. Her mother, Barbara Walters, researched different options
and Jackie entered the Rocky Mountain Academy, a 3-year degree-granting
(high school diploma) wilderness school in Idaho. After 3 and
1/2 years, Jackie graduated with much more than a high school
degree. “It was a place where people cared, where people understood
and were honest.” Although not agreeing with certain techniques
used such as sleep deprivation, the program helped her and others
achieve self-esteem and feel good about themselves. Jackie did
not return to her home in New York, a place she had not had much
happiness. Instead, she lived with older students from the school
in Oregon, then Washington state, finally enrolling in a marine
biology  program
at the University of Maine. Feeling uncomfortable and isolated
at the age of thirty, in a college community of 18 year-olds,
she soon decided to opt for establishing her own wilderness camp
for troubled teenage girls, ages 13-17. New Horizons Wilderness
Camp, completing its first year, “is an unlocked, nurturing and
caring environment,” says Danforth. Her husband, a registered
Maine guide, is a vital part of the program. Along with hiking,
canoeing, camping and cookouts in summer and snow-shoeing, cross-country
skiing and cabin life in winter, the girls get “fresh air, time
and peace and the freedom to be yourself for 8 weeks.” Danforth’s
message is “It’s you and me; I really want to help you!”
There are 4-5 staff per group of 7 girls, and two therapists to
supervise. Group discussions are interwoven throughout the day
and may last 1-3 hours depending on the needs of the girls. Danforth
feels that computers make kids socially inept. “Kids, especially
women, need companionship.”
On a typical day, girls wake at 7 am, wash up, cut and gather
wood, cook meals with the staff over a fire, and then do journal
writing. They are only allowed to receive letters from home, not
phone calls. Danforth explained, phoning can lead to shouting
and disruption. The girls then pack up, canoe to the next site
and have lunch. After a group session, they set up camp, have
dinner and do more journal writing. Reading comes next. Books
on hand are, for example, Reviving Ophelia.
The girls work on different values each week. Truth (what is the
truth about you?), friendship, forgiveness, transition, acceptance.
Each phase deals with them, their families and peers.
Horizons provides excellent food and all clothing. Currently there
are 55 girls who are tracked for four years after they leave the
program.
Who benefits from this program? Girls who are depressed, mildly
self-abusive, have poor body image or are bipolar (who are stabilized
on medication). “Borderline personality disorders are tough” said
Danforth. “They take a lot of attention, and are disruptive to
the point of hurting the others because they want all the attention.”
For suicidal girls we make a contract. She agrees to come and
talk to us before she does anything. The contract gives her a
measure of control.There are also contracts for self-mutilation
and running away. Said Danforth, “We set boundaries; that leads
to a set of values and self-respect.”
To the question, what role do you play in the camp, Danforth answered,
“A big sister.” She talks to the girls about her own experiences,
about adoptive issues and is a resource person who has “been there,
done that.” Her vision for the future is to run a school that
will be separate from the wilderness program. “It will be a three
year program with individual and group therapy. There will be
no home visits; the girls will go on expeditions in the first
year and gradually taper therapy and include more home visits
by the third year. There will be high quality academics and non-competitive
sports like yoga, ballet and martial arts.”
The high points of Danforth’s life are the “hugs and embraces
whenever a girl leaves and says how wonderful we are and that
she wants to come back and work for us.”#
Education
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