Taking the Long Way Around: A Mother's Journey into Wilderness Therapy and Beyond

The big event we were preparing for almost from the start of wilderness therapy was the workshop  midway through our daughter’s stay.  Much emphasis was placed on this one encounter although I couldn’t imagine how a one-day workshop could make that much difference.  We had little idea about what we would actually do, only that we would be working with another family.  Maybe I can demystify it a little for you.  On workshop day, we, the two sets of parents, met at the central offices of the program. We were joined by the parent therapist (to whom we had only spoken on the telephone) and after a short meeting as a group, we drove over to meet with our children.  When we arrived our children were brought by staff to the small cottage where we would spend the day together.  Although we had begun exchanging letters, we hadn’t seen or talked to our daughter in six weeks, perhaps the longest time with no direct contact in all our liv...