Mollie Halper

Review of WIngate Wilderness Therapy

I was a student at Wingate Wilderness Therapy in 2...

I was a student at Wingate Wilderness Therapy in 2012. This program changed my life. It took me away from everything that I was dealing with at home. If you're really worried about your child, I would check out Wingate. The program is special because it's not a punishment based program (which is rare!). When I first got to Wingate, I didn't want to hike and I cried quite a lot. Instead of trying to punish me, they made me feel responsible for my behavior. This program taught me a valuable lesson: Your actions affect other people. When I was expressing my desires to not hike or be a part of my group, I put my group at risk. The only way we could get more fresh water was to hike to our next coordinates. We also wouldn't receive our new food if we weren't at our new campsites. Instead of there being a level system, which really doesn't work most of the time, it was a system of honesty. We developed close relationships with our counselors and other group members because we had to work together to make things happen. This program was all about survival and learning to work with other people. And most importantly: Doing things we didn't necessarily want to do. This experience changed my perspective on life because I was used to just simply saying "no" when it came to responsibilities back at home. One of the biggest problems young teens have today is understanding natural consequences for their behaviors. I promise Wingate can and will help your child much better than many of the other programs that are just based on levels and behavior. The problem with the "level system" is kids will focus on their level and how much longer it will be until they can get out instead of accepting every day as a new challenge. This program teaches students to work together and develop incredible skills they will use for the rest of their life. I know that it must be a really tough decision to find the right program, but I know Wingate won't disappoint! I will always hold my memories from Wingate close to my heart and I get excited just thinking about the differences they are continuing to make in troubled adolescents lives.