Our son had been in wilderness therapy for 82 days, which was something of a record. We sent him there because traditional therapy was not working and he was spiraling to a very dark place. We honestly didn’t know what else to do.
His wilderness therapist told us that Red Mountain was a good next step for young people who were coming out of a wilderness program. When one of the staff members from RMS came to visit him before he finished up, that sealed the deal for our son because it showed just how much they cared about him. We let him make the final decision about this next step on his journey..
Once he got to Red Mountain, he plunged into yoga and meditation and those two disciplines really helped him change his mind about his life. We have both yoga and meditation in our family background, so it was perhaps not surprising that these two aspects of the program appealed to him.
As parents, we felt secure that there was a healthy structure to the RMS program and the fact that there was a clear schedule and little things like bed checks and urine samples gave us confidence that someone was watching over him. That structure and accountability were vital to his success.
Among the staff, we found Taylor to be a wonderful therapist. Tera, the yoga instructor, was so enthusiastic about how he was engaged in her classes and that made us feel good about his progress. He also got quite a lot out of group therapy.
He did have a relapse, but we found that there was a great community of support for him when it happened. We learned that relapses are a part of the recovery process and there are ways that skillful practitioners can bring students back to the right path. We will always remember what Maureen said to him: “The past behavior patterns haven’t been working for you. When you go off your meds, you fall back into depression. You need to break that cycle for your own health, because taking yourself off meds is not only causing you to spiral but also causing physical harm to your body.”
That was so true and so typical of how Maureen and Josh work with the students. We were so pleased to hear the good things they said about our son at his graduation from the program.
We would strongly recommend this program to parents who are facing the kinds of challenges our son faced. Red Mountain helped to save his life and sent him on a healthy path. We are deeply grateful.
—Parents