Columbia University and Birdseye RTC Train Graduate Students

The combined efforts Dr. Lisa Miller Ph.D., professor at Columbia University Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology and the Birdseye RTC clinical staff of Dr. Gary Weaver Ph.D., Jared Rockwood LCSW, Jared Hill APC, created a partnership allowing graduate student from Columbia University to participate in a therapeutic wilderness experience in south central Utah. Dr. Lisa Miller is a leading scholar in the area of spirituality and wellness. She has authored over fifty scholarly articles and chapters on spirituality, resilience and mental health, as well as spoken internationally and on Capital Hill to policy maker on spirituality and wellness in young people. Birdseye RTC was established in 1989 and is one of the first private programs in the nation to specialize in the treatment of teenage boys faced with dysfunctional patterns of exploitation and sexual misconduct. Over the last 22 years Birdseye RTC has helped hundreds of youth to get their lives back on track and create a template for healing and functional engagement in society.

One of the powerful interventions that Birdseye offers is a therapeutic wilderness experience in Escalante Staircase National Monument area of south central Utah. The basic framework is a six-day 50- mile loop hike through beautiful slot canyons. The Birdseye clinical team has designed daily groups and experiential activities that build group cohesion, challenge selfishness, stretch the individual through achievable challenges, and invitations to change.

Dr. Miller became aware of this modern day version of a wilderness trek with troubled youth that allows for a powerful personal healing through a recent presentation at Columbia University in New York by Birdseye clinicians Dr. Weaver and Jared Hill, and one of the boys in Birdseye RTC. They were invited to share some of the ideas, techniques, and experiences for connecting with clients using skills such as guided imagery and therapeutic wilderness experiences to the doctoral students. One of the most powerful parts of the presentation was the Birdseye youth that shared his personal experiences and positive changes he felt on his journey through the wilderness. An outgrowth of this presentation was an interest on the part of graduate students to observe, learn, and experience a wilderness trek and build upon the theoretical knowledge learned while at Columbia in Dr. Miller's classes. They spontaneously petitioned to participate and be a part of the Birdseye therapeutic wilderness experience and made plans to attend the July 2011 expedition.

The highlight of the therapeutic experience is the "Solo" where each youth is challenged to visualize their personal connection to others, problem solve, and imagine who they are at their healthy center. The boys are placed in a portion of the slot canyon that has several tight successive bends in the river where small outcroppings or rock provide shade and shelter from the occasional rainstorm. To enhance the impact of the experience each boy is placed in a private area alone so they cannot see any others. The Birdseye clinicians and the Columbia graduate students engaged with the boys during their solo time and takes the opportunity to utilize the remote wilderness to push the youth beyond their usual set of defenses. The therapist invites each youth to challenge their beliefs about where they are at in this life's journey, develop new pathways of thinking, and they are invited to connect at a heart to heart level that invites a positive healing experience.

The four doctoral students and a supervising professor were sent out to Utah, far from their comfort zone of New York City, to both learn and experience for themselves the healing to which they had been introduced. The combination of Birdseye RTC clinicians with the Columbia students and professor turned out to be a dynamic duo of healing. Each doctoral student and Birdseye clinician spent time engaged in therapeutic work with the boys on their solos and witnessed the healing power of human heart to heart connection. The Columbia group was particularly impressed that boys after having completed the program will frequently request to return to engage this wilderness trek experience because it helped provide a foundation for their pathway to healing. This year a boy from the east coast spontaneously requested the opportunity to participate in this therapeutic wilderness activity because after a year of living in his home after a successful completion of the Birdseye RTC program he found himself slipping into some of his old patterns of thinking and behaving. In order to prevent himself from sinking into past problems he flew out to Utah and renewed his commitment to healthy living and was able to reconfirm his personal power for positive change.

The supervising professor indicated that her experience taught, "us to work from a place of love rather than fear and a place of abundance... now (months after the experience) I feel it is always there and there is deep trust I have been using ever since." One Columbia student stated that he learned "not only by watching great technique; but how to utilize them coming from a place of compassion� We work with kids with severe trauma and we need to really focus on sincerity and connection." He went on to state "I feel so much closer to everyone around me and that can only be a positive."

The goal of introducing the Columbia graduate students to Birdseye RTC practice techniques was to help them connect with the healing of adolescents and to shift from the theory of the classroom to the application of practice. Jonas Robitscher, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, once stated, "effective therapy is an engagement of two people that leaves both changed. If only one changes, therapy has been a failure." When Birdseye RTC combined forces with the students of Columbia powerful heartfelt change was the result in the Birdseye clients, in the Columbia students, and the Birdseye clinicians. Through recognizing the core "positive self" in our clients and in ourselves we are able to transcend the mundane and we as clinicians can help our clients to strive to be their best.