Sagewalk
Redmond, Oregon

SageWalk, The Wilderness School, a licensed outdoor behavioral health program for struggling teens ages 13-17, has introduced a new Sibling Workbook to accompany the program's Parent Workbook, a highly effective tool designed to address issues that exist within the family, to improve results when the teen returns home.

"The Parent Workbook was designed years ago to help parents learn many of the same skills that their child is acquiring so that there is more of a common ground and knowledge base when they reunite as a family," says Mike Bednarz, Executive Director of SageWalk. "We've now taken that one step further with the creation of a Sibling Workbook, understanding that they too are crucial to the family system."

The Sibling Workbook is intended to accomplish three specific things. First, it helps a sibling of a SageWalk student understand a little more about what their brother/sister is going through and learning in the program. Second, it helps them to feel a part of the process of change that the entire family is experiencing. And third, it provides some commonality for students and their siblings to be able to talk about past hurts and future interaction.

The workbook also gives parents a framework within which to talk about what is happening in the family as a whole, and new skills and methods of communication to positively affect what happens with the family in the future.

"Students come from a family system and every part of the system needs help in order for lasting, healthy change to occur," says Patricia (PJ) Swan, M.Ed., LPC, SageWalk's Director of Family Transition Services. "Our Parent and Sibling Workbooks are meant to complement home therapy, to teach the family our language and the skills on which we focus."

SageWalk has found that the Family Systems Theory is especially helpful for kids struggling with drugs and alcohol, as well as internet and gaming addictions, issues that affect many SageWalk students.

"We are committed to helping kids get better, and that means helping their whole family get better," says Swan. "Today's economic environment demands that we provide high value for a family's emotional and financial investment. By helping our students' siblings, we're providing that value and illustrating our commitment to helping all kids and their families."

The Sibling Workbooks are available on SageWalk's special Parent CheckIn site. Elements of the workbook are used during the program's Family Workshop, when the roles of siblings and other family relationships are discussed and strategies for effective integration of family learning are defined.

The workbook was compiled by the SageWalk Family Transition Services team - including two master's level clinicians - with support from field teams and clinical staff. In addition to the workbooks and Family Workshops, the team also provides three months of transition support for students.

"The SageWalk Parent Workbook gave our divided and blended family the tools necessary to co-parent our children with love and respect," said SageWalk parent Julie D. of Grass Valley, California. "I'm sure the new Sibling Workbook will be equally useful."

SageWalk, The Wilderness School was the first wilderness program to be individually accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, and is licensed by the State of Oregon. Founded in 1997, SageWalk employs licensed clinical professionals, certified chemical dependency counselors and a fleet of highly trained wilderness-based instructors to help youth struggling with emotional, behavioral and substance abuse issues. Our mission is to develop family conflict resolution capabilities in order to reunite families that have been torn apart by the behavioral problems of a troubled child. SageWalk boasts a long-standing history of excellent risk management and family success stories, effectively challenging students on an emotional, academic and physical level.

SageWalk is a program of Aspen Education Group, the nation's leading provider of therapeutic education programs for struggling or underachieving young people. Aspen's services range from short-term intervention programs to residential treatment, and include a variety of therapeutic settings such as boarding schools, outdoor behavioral health programs and special needs summer camps, allowing professionals and families the opportunity to choose the best setting to meet a student's unique academic and emotional needs. Aspen is a division of CRC Health Group, the nation's largest chemical dependency and related behavioral health organization. For over two decades, CRC Health has been achieving successful outcomes for individuals and families. For more information, visit www.aspeneducation.com.