Families tend to be impressed by many different aspects of Trails Carolina. One of the many impressive features is how they can customize the wilderness therapy program to help every student in the best way possible.
While everything falls under the wilderness therapy program, different opportunities offered by Trails Carolina exist to make it unique. Through evaluations that go on during the year from therapists, teachers, and staff, everyone collaborates routinely to ensure each student is in the best position to succeed.
Equine Relational Programming
Trails Carolina has been offering equine relational programming for several years. While families might not realize the effectiveness at first, students in the past have found tremendous success connecting in emotional and nonverbal ways with horses.
Working on different types of communication and quality relationships makes students think differently about their actions. Students often come to Trails Carolina, never spending time around horses. Just weeks later, they can talk about this unique opportunity.
Outdoor Programming
Trails Carolina’s location is unique for wilderness therapy. The central location is in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. That removes distractions and allows students to take in the environment.
With the quiet time nature provides, students have more opportunities to reflect on their emotions, learn with renewed focus, and build relationships. Outdoor programming with the mountains also does a great job of helping students stay active, which can positively impact their mental health.
Family Focused Programming
Most students come to Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy in hopes of repairing their families. Students can focus on themselves, while there are also family coaching opportunities to work out problems.
Trails Carolina believes that every family has an opportunity to work through their struggles and get back on track. It’s just a matter of finding the right approach.
That means weekly calls with therapists and twice monthly calls with family coaches to hear how students are doing. Students get to send letters and communicate with people back home. There are bi-weekly connections with a family coach to provide sibling support.
Finally, families come to Trails Carolina as part of a family reunification weekend. This takes place during graduation and eases the transition back home that’s about to occur. There’s also the option of a family camp, a five-day extended stay option for the entire family.
It is rare to find a program that offers something as unique as this to keep families connected. There is never a reason to fear separation with so many opportunities to stay in touch. Now that video chatting is a push of a button away, and there are ways for students to see family back home quickly.
Personal Treatment Plans
Trail Carolina’s goal is to keep every single group size small so that students have the opportunity to get personal attention. In-depth assessment leads to personalized treatment plans that can help those struggling most.
The team considers a student’s past strugglesand how they react early on while on campus. By getting a more profound understanding, personalized treatment plans tend to have outstanding success.
A big reason why students fall behind in a standard classroom is that they don’t get that extra care they might personally need. It’s frustrating, but students might not initially realize why they remain so frustrated. A breakthrough at Trails Carolina can change the narrative around education for life.
Accredited Education Program
A quality wilderness therapy program would not be complete without an accredited academic program. This allows students not to miss anything while they are away. Students can transfer credits when they go back home.
Ideally, students take every opportunity to get ahead since they now work in smaller classrooms. Trail Carolina uses a Cognia accredited academic program, which works well in a wilderness therapy setting and a traditional classroom setting.
Teenagers can work with teachers specializing in handling unique learning situations. Trails Carolina believes that the only way to have long-term success with each student is to have quality leadership in the classroom.
By the end of a stay at the Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy Program, students often interact with and inspire each other in the classroom. As great as teachers can be, sometimes the most significant inspiration comes from peers with similar backgrounds.
It almost becomes a bit of a competition to see who does the best job on classwork. They have the opportunity to spend some of their downtime pursuing topics they are most passionate about. If a student leaves the mountains of North Carolina with a favorite subject or possible career interest, that’s another bonus.
Is Trails Carolina the Right Fit For All Students With Unique Needs?
Whether it’s the first pick for a solution or an option after other therapy solutions failed, Trails Carolina has found ways to help with everything from mild anxiety and depression to improving family systems. The team focuses on helping students overcome challenges and reach a potential they never realized before.
Families can be hesitant about wilderness therapy, and students might not initially be excited. There’s also the opportunity to check out the website at trailscarolina.com.