| News
& Views
- Oct, 1994 Issue #30 |
SUWS ADOLESCENT PROGRAM
by: Ranel Hanson
Sandpoint, Idaho
208-265-4616
(Ranel Hanson was the Director
of Admissions for Rocky Mountain Academy for six years, and
recently joined SUWS as Director of Enrollment Services. Her
job is to work with referring professionals as well as to
oversee the SUWS Admissions department.)
SUWS is the oldest (continuing
since 1981) and most respected of the adolescent outdoor-based
programs. Located in the high desert of southern Idaho, the
SUWS base facility operates year- round in a four season wilderness
environment. While enrolled in the twenty one day SUWS experience,
children may hike in a area of several hundred acres, and
the program has available to it several miles of territory.
SUWS groups form weekly (no more
than seven coed students, aged 13-18) and students find themselves
almost immediately in the field. The instructors who meet
children at the airport will stay with them throughout the
21-day experience.
And it IS an experience. Adolescents
who hours before were struggling to maintain control within
their families, in their schools and among their peers now
find themselves without control. They are disoriented, apprehensive
and dependent. This is all part of the plan. SUWS knows that
personal growth occurs through struggle and challenge.
One of the first things SUWS
does is to help each child to understand the difference between
his/her Wants and Needs. SUWS gives them everything they need,
but almost nothing they want. And, in this environment they
can't manipulate for what they want. Within a few days, they
not only begin to differentiate their wants from their needs,
but to realize that they haven't been paying enough attention
to meeting those needs.
Helping children through this
process of finding out what is really most important and learning
how to be powerful enough (in a healthy way) to meet those
needs, is what SUWS does better than any other program. To
accomplish this, SUWS uses a Search and Rescue metaphor. Living
this metaphor throughout the expedition facilitates the process
which each student must go through when searching for their
true self, finding that self, and learning how to stay true
to this self- discovery after they leave the program.
In the final phase of the three
week program, students form a Search and Rescue team. The
group is actually "on call" with local authorities. Responsibilities
are divided by the group and they practice how to react to
a real emergency. Sometimes, there is a real emergency; and
sometimes instructors must manufacture one - however it happens,
children are not informed about which is which. This phase
allows students to put into practice the skills they have
worked so hard to master in a way which makes a significant
and real contribution. We know that children need and want
to contribute to a larger cause - the Search and Rescue portion
of the program is the vehicle by which this is accomplished.
Before the expedition is over, each student will have learned
how to function as a strong contributing member of an outdoor
Search and Rescue Team. The training includes First Aid, CPR
and how to respond to emergency situations as a team. But
the formal training is of secondary importance.
"When I saved Sally I was feeling
excitement, pressure, a good feeling in my heart and my whole
body. She made me feel needed and I made her feel safe and
secure. Many times I heard her worrying, and then I heard
myself comforting her and making her bad feelings leave her.
I think that the group worked to communicate. I put myself
in second and third positions a lot during the rescue. I've
never had a feeling of accomplishment, inner-peace or self-worth
this strong. I feel that I worked as hard as I could to make
her comfortable and help her injury. These feelings are ones
I'm never going to forget. Tomorrow I'm going home. I'm so
happy! I seriously think SUWS can change ANYONE. I love this
place. I'm going to miss it." - student journal, Search and
Rescue Experience.
Each seven person student group
has two field instructors assigned to the group for the entire
21 days. A senior field supervisor, who is among the most
experienced and highly trained instructors, will visit the
field often to interact with students and to monitor the progress
of the group. The group's progress is the responsibility of
the field supervisor and it is also his/her task to communicate
with parents and with the referring professional. We see this
as a tremendous advantage because we know that parents and
professionals need to speak with people who are actually working
with the child. Much can be seen in the tone of a voice or
the expression of a young face.
On the surface, many outdoor
programs may sound similar, but what happens for students
at SUWS is phenomenal. You are invited to ask us to arrange
a personal visit for you to the program so that you can evaluate
for yourself the value of the SUWS experience. We know that
this is the best way for you to understand more fully and
to describe the SUWS experience to parents. We are eager to
arrange your visit and we would welcome the chance to show
you the RESULTS of a SUWS experience.
You may reach Brian Church (Director
of Admissions) and the SUWS Admissions Department at our new
location in Huntington Beach, California at 714-895-0923.
Copyright
© 1994, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper
publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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