No
For a group of people to achieve some safety from infection from the Corona virus, they need to be isolated for at least 3-4 weeks.
It takes up to 14 days to see symptoms from a person who is infected. That means that a teenager or an employee can go to the wilderness program and stay there while infecting people without the person feeling sick themself.
In a wilderness program, children enter the program at random schedules. The employees are replaced every week, the therapist comes in one time per week. Goods delivered to the wilderness program needs to be handled in a certain way in order to prevent infection from bags and the food itself to be passed to the persons in the wilderness program.
The most important tool to prevent the virus from spreading is to limit all contact to persons who is not in the group. That means that an employee must refrain from close interactions with the wilderness program for 14 days after joining the trek. No manual restraints, no close person to person talk. All participants must stay at least 2 meters from each other.
Washing hands is also important. Then new food are brought in the virus can be on the surface of the packing the food are transported within. Once the food is received the participants need to wash hands. People who have been in wilderness programs know that water is limited. Alcohol is an alternative but the program is that some teenagers then would drink it if they have this kind of addiction, so it cannot be used either.
Once a person shows symptoms of Covid-19 they need to be in a place where they can be brought to a hospital quickly. Nurses and doctors who handle patients infected tells of cases where people need a respirator quicker than it would have been the case if we were talking of normal pneumonia. In the past we have been a number of cases where the time used for transport to a hospital from a wilderness program proved too long and the participant died. In some cases the authorities stated that it was neglect. Back then it was a new thing. Today no firm can claim that they are unaware of this risk and it would be criminal investigation and possible prison if they continue to operate a wilderness program when the world is on standstill due to Covid-19.
We recommend that all wilderness programs shut down if they did not do that already. One death participant is simply one to many.
Showing posts with label wilderness program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wilderness program. Show all posts
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Saturday, February 1, 2014
9/11 is still creating victims
9/11 was a tragedy. Of course a lot of people died as result of the attack. Then we had to risk a lot of lives in order to bring the terrorists to justice. The economy took a hit. At my work where we printed tickets to a lot of airlines, jobs were cut. Families lost their income and became homeless or put on welfare.
But there are those victims who were children at the time of the attack. I googled the internet to find stories about the behavior modification industry the other night and found an obituary of a Adam Gibbon.
13 years old and a young teenager heading through the rite of passage towards adulthood, he lost his mother who was at work at the World Trade Center at the time of the attack.
Having lost an important guide in his life and having a father properly having to deal with his own grief too he made some wrong choices.
His family decided to sent him to Second Nature Wilderness program. A couple of goons where hired to drag him out of bed and transport him to the program.
His family did state that the traumatic experience improved his life but was that the truth. Did it just not made him hide the grief in silent making it harder for his family to know how much emotional suffering he had to deal with? We do know that alcohol were a factor in a traffic accident a short time before his death. We do know that both alcohol and drugs where found in his system when he died.
9/11 claimed two victims who weren't at the scene when the attack happended. Christopher Grieves, who was passenger in his car died while he was driving it. He died as result from an illness which properly could have been cured if he had dared to trust a professional instead of trying to self-medicate. But how can you blame him when he was forced to confess all about his past in public by professionals during the wilderness program?
This sad case shows how important it is for the entire family to support those among us who suffers the loss of a relative. Involve local therapy and talks in the home. Otherwise the help ends up being an invasion of privacy and will damage more than it will help.
Sources:
But there are those victims who were children at the time of the attack. I googled the internet to find stories about the behavior modification industry the other night and found an obituary of a Adam Gibbon.
13 years old and a young teenager heading through the rite of passage towards adulthood, he lost his mother who was at work at the World Trade Center at the time of the attack.
Having lost an important guide in his life and having a father properly having to deal with his own grief too he made some wrong choices.
His family decided to sent him to Second Nature Wilderness program. A couple of goons where hired to drag him out of bed and transport him to the program.
His family did state that the traumatic experience improved his life but was that the truth. Did it just not made him hide the grief in silent making it harder for his family to know how much emotional suffering he had to deal with? We do know that alcohol were a factor in a traffic accident a short time before his death. We do know that both alcohol and drugs where found in his system when he died.
9/11 claimed two victims who weren't at the scene when the attack happended. Christopher Grieves, who was passenger in his car died while he was driving it. He died as result from an illness which properly could have been cured if he had dared to trust a professional instead of trying to self-medicate. But how can you blame him when he was forced to confess all about his past in public by professionals during the wilderness program?
This sad case shows how important it is for the entire family to support those among us who suffers the loss of a relative. Involve local therapy and talks in the home. Otherwise the help ends up being an invasion of privacy and will damage more than it will help.
Sources:
- Young life ends in Washington Township after criminal acquittal (New Jersey Hills)
- Long Valley's Gibbon Went Through Life-Changing Journey as a Tee (LongValley Patch)
- Victims (Fornits Wiki)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wilderness therapy: Shouldn't 2012 be the end of this
Kurt Hahn developed the early basic for so-called outward bound education before the second world. These ideas were picked up by several schools.
In the 1970's the first wilderness therapy programs began to emerge. However they took only volunteers in and while the survival gear was somewhat primitive compared to the equipment at hand here in 2011, most teenagers who entered these programs made it home.
This all changed when the Reagan and Bush administration in the 1980's declared war on drugs and raise the age of alcohol consumption to 21 in the United States. Such a war demanded strict punishment and when the parents discovered that even minor violations of the law could put their children in jail for decades - in some cases even life, a market for alternative private punishment marketed as therapy was pushed in business based on parental fear for the future of their children.
The first wilderness programs where teenagers were forced into entering the program appeared. Then deaths of such teenagers in the wilderness became headlines in such a number that they eventually were something you could read about on page 34. It was an accepted risk because the alternative was claimed to be a life on drugs and as result deaths or life in prison.
One of the first programs of this new type was named Challenger. It was as almost every modern wilderness programs outdoor adventure combined with boot camp mentality. In closed a few years after it opened because a young girl named Kristin Chase died during the program.
One of our volunteers looked the program up on Facebook and found a group of survivors of the program. While some praise the program despite its harshness there are also those who to this day recent all what did take and basically blame their experience for all the suffering they have experienced in life since. What is true? Is it just something you should get over with or should you speaks up against the lack of fairness?
Life goes on but just as people have to endure scars and injuries from traffic accidents it does meant that you should forget all what was wrong. A girl died in the program and only pure luck prevented others from joining her.
Second those who praise the program forget one thing. It is a basic function in the brain which enables them to select the good things and make them forget the bad elements in the program just as rape victims often are able to hide the ordeal and function relatively normal.
But what about the deaths? Wasn't something learned from Challenger?
No, nothing was learned from her tragic death. In the years since the program closed not a single year has been without deaths in residential treatment programs for children. Several of the deaths in wilderness programs have been exactly copies of her unfortunately death - Deaths which for sure could have been avoided if just the tiniest piece of teaching had been learned from her ordeal.
Wilderness therapy is not safe. It doesn't matter what kind of regulations which are introduced. Records show that there will always be the next set of parents who will receive a coffin instead of a cured child.
Taking teenagers out of their comfort zone should be controversial and the very last resort.
2011 brought awareness of the risk and the suffering among teenagers who are being removed from their homes.
2012 should be the year where the use of wilderness therapy for children who are not willingly entering the program should stop.
That is our simple New Year wish.
In the 1970's the first wilderness therapy programs began to emerge. However they took only volunteers in and while the survival gear was somewhat primitive compared to the equipment at hand here in 2011, most teenagers who entered these programs made it home.
This all changed when the Reagan and Bush administration in the 1980's declared war on drugs and raise the age of alcohol consumption to 21 in the United States. Such a war demanded strict punishment and when the parents discovered that even minor violations of the law could put their children in jail for decades - in some cases even life, a market for alternative private punishment marketed as therapy was pushed in business based on parental fear for the future of their children.
The first wilderness programs where teenagers were forced into entering the program appeared. Then deaths of such teenagers in the wilderness became headlines in such a number that they eventually were something you could read about on page 34. It was an accepted risk because the alternative was claimed to be a life on drugs and as result deaths or life in prison.
One of the first programs of this new type was named Challenger. It was as almost every modern wilderness programs outdoor adventure combined with boot camp mentality. In closed a few years after it opened because a young girl named Kristin Chase died during the program.
One of our volunteers looked the program up on Facebook and found a group of survivors of the program. While some praise the program despite its harshness there are also those who to this day recent all what did take and basically blame their experience for all the suffering they have experienced in life since. What is true? Is it just something you should get over with or should you speaks up against the lack of fairness?
Life goes on but just as people have to endure scars and injuries from traffic accidents it does meant that you should forget all what was wrong. A girl died in the program and only pure luck prevented others from joining her.
Second those who praise the program forget one thing. It is a basic function in the brain which enables them to select the good things and make them forget the bad elements in the program just as rape victims often are able to hide the ordeal and function relatively normal.
But what about the deaths? Wasn't something learned from Challenger?
No, nothing was learned from her tragic death. In the years since the program closed not a single year has been without deaths in residential treatment programs for children. Several of the deaths in wilderness programs have been exactly copies of her unfortunately death - Deaths which for sure could have been avoided if just the tiniest piece of teaching had been learned from her ordeal.
Wilderness therapy is not safe. It doesn't matter what kind of regulations which are introduced. Records show that there will always be the next set of parents who will receive a coffin instead of a cured child.
Taking teenagers out of their comfort zone should be controversial and the very last resort.
2011 brought awareness of the risk and the suffering among teenagers who are being removed from their homes.
2012 should be the year where the use of wilderness therapy for children who are not willingly entering the program should stop.
That is our simple New Year wish.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Testimonies from a lot of students telling about abuse keep coming
Our Swedish partners over at Minors in residential placement research center told that more than 600 people did view their boarding school blog last month. Hopefully some of the viewers were parents so they will learn about signs of warning before they entrust their children to various programs or boarding schools.
So far 5 blogs have been made. They are:
If you have a comment or even your own testimony to give, please visit the blogs.
So far 5 blogs have been made. They are:
- Tales from the black school (Boarding school stories)
- Just another hike (Stories from former participents in wilderness programs)
- Asylum horrible (How a stay in a modern residential treatment facility felt like)
- Being Transported (Stories about being picked up by Youth Transport firms)
- Today a child died (Memorial blog about those who didn't make it home from treatment)
If you have a comment or even your own testimony to give, please visit the blogs.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Karl Johanson's reply to a local article in a SUWS runaway case
Karl Johanson wrote in response to this article:
I am happy that they were found safe.
But I am concerned because knowing the type of wilderness program they were detained in, they were not provided with legal representation as they would have if they had committed a crime.
Most of the so-called clients or detainees, which are a better term, are either tricked by their parents to such program or simply pulled out of their bed at night by private youth transport firms and transported to the wilderness camps in handcuffs and shackles on the orders of their parents.
How come that criminals are better protected that an ordinary teenagers, who may only have problems as little as an ordinary depression or being picky at the dinner table?
What kind of society are we, when we send a message to our kids that you have to commit a crime in order to secure legal protection for you?
As I stated above I volunteer for a NGO where we track records of possible abuse and deaths among minors in treatment. Every year we must acknowledge that we once again can observe how teenagers lost their lives in a treatment aimed to "treat" them. Every year we also most acknowledge that some cannot live on with the memories of the so-called treatment and choose to end their lives prematurely.
When will it stop? We hope that 2010 will be the turning point, but as this story show, it will most likely not happen.
My heart goes out for these girls. May they one day be able to return to their families safe and hopefully without so many scars from the "treatment".
References:
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