Clinical symptoms exhibited by teens are a call for transformation. The instinctual drive to find meaning in life produces seeking behaviors that look for fulfillment. This instinct appears in archetypal patterns easily recognizable in any family constellation; the pleaser/co-dependent, the victim, the hero/heroine, the saboteur, the scapegoat, the addict, the perfectionist, the prostitute, the sloth and so on. The urge to transform carries a paradoxical force of energy responsible for both the forward drive hidden in the unconscious as well as its own declining regressive action. This tension appears necessary in creating emotional discomfort that leads to unrest, cognitive dissonance, and a subsequent call to action. When the hidden instinctual drive to move forward releases energy, it filters into consciousness resulting in a moment of clarity, or a cognitive shift causing one to pay attention, feel inspired or motivated. An environment that creates opportunities for individual transformation is critical to supporting the adolescent developmental process that requires the creation of an identity of their own.

A regressive tendency and the opposing call to renewal is a story common to all and a storyline often accompanying adolescence. The adolescent is torn between a need for parental guidance and the developmental pull toward establishing a sense of personal authority. The parent's role is to stand in the middle of the two opposing forces and hold the tension of the opposites, not an easy task. Wilderness is one such environment worthy of supporting the adolescent in the psychological call to action. Nature provides the perfect backdrop for self discovery and a challenging environment for the shift in consciousness that is often sought in adolescence.

Working with teens in a wilderness environment is an honor and a privilege and requires special care to guide them through the conflicting and often self defeating messages they receive in today's culture. Placing teens in a wilderness environment affords them the opportunity to strip away cultural stereotypes and distractions that have thwarted their attempts at forming a positive self image. The passage from childhood into young adulthood requires formal markers and acknowledgment of the need to transform as still present in the modern adolescent psyche. This rite is essential to psychological health even though the cultural constructs needed to positively support this passage are absent (Frankel, 1998). The literal practice of initiation has ceased, but still may be influencing the psychology of adolescence. If positive cultural constructs to initiate are missing, the adolescent will be left to his or her own devices to act out this ritual in whatever way the culture is demanding as the appropriate ideal to attain. Drug use, eating disorders and cutting become habitual and ritualistic, oppositional attitudes, promiscuity and violence mimic what can be seen on reality TV and the internet. These behaviors become the unconscious treatment plan in an attempt to meet the cultural expectation of what is ideal.

An important question to consider is how the absence of the rite to initiate is influencing adolescents and in what way is this absence causing psychological stress in the maturation process and becoming a self destructive narrative for teens.

Personal authority is the ability to validate one's own thoughts and actions as good and true. It develops gradually as others recognize and communicate the value of one's ideas and contributions, both for the family and for the larger social group. Society designates authority symbolically by conferring decision-making influence, social status, and power over material resources. (Young-Eisendrath & Wiedemann, 1987, p. 1)

The therapeutic wilderness experience is one that validates, contributes to the adolescent rite to initiate in an empowering way, and offers decision-making influence in a peer society while fostering transformation as the agent for personal change and renewal.

References:
Frankel, R. (1998). The adolescent psyche. New York, NY: Routledge.
Young-Eisendrath, P. & Wiedemann, F. (1987). Female authority: Empowering women through psychotherapy. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Trails Carolina is a comprehensive therapeutic wilderness program for ages 10 - 17 in the tranquil North Carolina Mountains. Specifically developed to address the "whole child" our proven methods and clinical therapies help change troubling behavior, guide adolescents up new paths of self awareness, lead families toward reunification, and healing and re-engage students in appreciation of academic challenge and learning.