Montana Academy and Explorations Create Joint Venture for Girls Summer 2009

This summer, Montana Academy and Explorations are launching a joint venture in a cohesive effort to integrate an adventure program with a subsequent enrollment in a separate therapeutic school. Our goal is to smooth the transition and increase front-end parent participation in treatment in order to cut the treatment duration and reduce the cost to families.

Explorations will offer a unique 8 week adventure for girls this summer as the prelude to enrollment at Montana Academy. Montana Academy will select suitable students, follow their progress in the field and - as daughters complete their adventures - provide an intensive pre-enrollment Parent Workshop to prepare moms and dads for their key roles in the Academy's therapeutic school program. We jointly offer this experimental program for selected prospective MA students whom we may legitimately spare the higher cost of a conventional wilderness experience.

For Whom?
Students whose parents commit to pursue a summer adventure - in lieu of a conventional wilderness program - and the full program and curriculum of Montana Academy.
Parents who are committed to their daughter's completion of both the Explorations summer adventure and Montana Academy residential curriculum, so long as a daughter proves capable of doing so safely.
Students whose expressive emotional behavior tends to be anxious internalizing rather than to authority-defying, aggressive externalizing.
Students who, in the judgment of educational consultants and joint-venture clinical staff, do not need the intensity of a long therapeutic wilderness program, and who nonetheless need to gain confidence and solidify a sense of self. These are students who would benefit from a summer of conquered challenges in a nurturing, yet therapeutically-engaging outdoor adventure curriculum.

The Summer Program:
The summer program is an 8 week summer adventure, wilderness challenge that combines adventure therapy and guided parent communication. Students participate in backpacking, river rafting, flat water canoeing and kayaking, rock-climbing, bicycling and community service.

Parents are invited to participate in a week-long raft float to begin to restore family collaboration, and will also participate in an intensive parent workshop on the Montana Academy campus prior to Montana Academy enrollment. In addition to these experiences, therapeutically guided communication takes place through written and phone contact. These experiences are designed to prepare parents immediately to play their key role in a daughter's return to the normal, healthy path of adolescent development.

Experienced, licensed therapists, help students examine their own predicaments and re-think childish strategies that previously undermined their attempts to meet the normal challenges of adolescence. With this support, students begin to re-discover warm, collaborative relationships with their parents.

When, Where & Cost:
The summer wilderness adventure begins on June 6, 2009 and ends when parents depart with their daughters on August 19, 2009. We expect to have 6-8 slots. The application process is best accomplished as early as possible so that parents have time to visit the Montana Academy campus, prior to their daughter's admission at Explorations.

All adventure courses take place in the mountains and on the rivers of NW Montana. Between expeditions, students return to Explorations Base Camp, located in Trout Creek, Montana. The MA pre-enrollment parent workshop will be conducted on the ranch campus of Montana Academy on Monday, August 17, 2009.

Explorations tuition for the 55 day adventure course is $14,300 plus an application fee of $200. This includes the parent participation in the float trip and the family conference. These fees are payable in advance and space is reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Individual wilderness gear for the student, which will also be utilized at Montana Academy, is not included in the tuition but either purchased by the parent or billed separately. Application fees will be waived for all students who enroll prior to May 20, 2009.

Montana Academy will charge $1,500 (payable in advance to MA) for its evaluation of a prospective student and family, for monitoring each student's clinical course by phone and with a visit to the field during the adventure and for the obligatory pre-enrollment Parent Workshop. (Our normal enrollment fee is $1,000).

How To Apply:
Montana Academy and Explorations will consider joint-venture candidates referred by educational consultants, who ideally know both Explorations and Montana Academy's programs sufficiently well to anticipate a student's likely success at both program levels of care. Both Montana Academy and Explorations will provide appropriate application materials to prospective families and each application need be completed for enrollment consideration. Parents must be willing to participate actively to support treatment with determination. Prospective students for the Joint Venture may not be psychotic, assaultive, acutely suicidal, stubbornly oppositional, determined to run away, physically unable to participate or medically precarious.

Questions and requests to discuss prospective enrollment may be directed to: Rosemary McKinnon MSW, Admissions Director, or Kelly Gesker LPC at Montana Academy; or Penny James, Director at Explorations.

Admissions
Montana Academy
28 W. California St.
Kalispell, MT 59901
Phone (406) 755-3149
info@explorationsMT.com

Admissions Explorations
119 South Hill Rd.
Trout Creek, MT 59874
Phone (406) 827-3863
rosemarym@montanaacademy.com