A 7 day Wilderness Therapy programme with a residential base may typically look like this:

Day 1

Travel and arrive at the wilderness accommodation mid-afternoon.

Settle in and a short acclimatisation walk and introductory activities.

Explore the immediate reactions to the wild landscape, the remoteness, and what this may offer for personal development.

Creation of a therapeutic community.

Day 2

Engage with group process and gentle immersion into the wilderness landscape through an extended walk, exploring the locality.

Discover how nature offers insights into our personal development through group related activities where inter-personal relationships are explored.

Time for personal reflection alone and diary keeping.

Day 3

Prepare for a wilderness trail.

Sharing responsibility for dividing the food and the equipment, planning the route, and setting goals.

Embark on the trail into the wilderness leaving the known security of the accommodation behind.

First camp.

Day 4

Continue on the wilderness trail giving time for group process.

The group are encouraged to take responsibility for route finding and decision making about the daily routine.

Second camp.

Day 5

Solo experience – from 1 hour to up to 6 hours. A period of true solitude (alone, no watch, no phone, no modern distractions) in the wild landscape for personal reflection about their experience so far and what meaning this has for the choices that lie before them.

Come back together and return to wilderness accommodation

Tell their solo stories.

Day 6

Making meaning of the wilderness experience through guided activities in the surrounding landscape.

Setting achievable goals for the future, identifying their sources of support, and how to overcome challenges that are presented to them – knowing that the environment they are returning to has not changed, but they have.

Celebrating their success through a celebratory meal.

Day 7

Symbolic departure from the wilderness location, marking their achievements and their life journeys to come.

Travel home.

Our staff will be present throughout the week and will actively engage in all aspects of the programme. The wilderness therapists (generally two per programme) will conduct the group therapy and facilitate the emerging processes, and the wilderness guide or guides will provide the overall outdoor instruction and safety.

The wilderness experience will be followed up by us through a set of agreed meetings and gatherings where the participants are invited to share their successes and difficulties in integrating what they learned.