BRTW Parent Pathway

Wilderness is an amazing gift that you have given your child by the brave choice you made. It is our hope that you find it to be a gift as well.

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Research demonstrates that in order to think clearly, one must manage his/her emotions. The link between increasing emotions and decreasing ability to think clearly is unquestionable. Therefore, to have a functioning family system parents need to be mindful of their own emotions and manage them with intention. Without emotions and an awareness and understanding of them, it’s impossible to build or maintain strong, healthy relationships.

Hopes and fears often dance together in the theater of our minds. We'll dissect their symbiotic relationship, learning how they influence our behaviors and shape our reality.

The body sends cues/messages about the emotions being experienced. These cues can be cognitive (thoughts), behavioral (actions), and/or physiological (bodily response and sensations).

Grief is an inevitable part of loss. Loss can be permanent or temporary, real or perceived. While you have not permanently lost your child, you may be experiencing the loss of the life you had envisioned for yourself, your child and/or your family. The resources in this section are intended to normalize and explain what the grief process often looks and feels like for students and their family members.

The impact letter is a meaningful and unique intervention early in your child’s stay at Blue Ridge. Even in cases where your child has heard the information before, the structure and format of the impact letter and impact letter group can have a profound impact on your child.

Effective communication seems like it should be instinctive. However, at times when we try to communicate with others something goes astray. The I-Feel statement is a foundational tool in supporting assertive communication about difficult issues.

“Feedback” is challenging, more often than not. In Blue Ridge Wilderness culture, feedback is considered to be a gift; we give others information about their choices, attitudes, actions or beliefs and how they affect others around them.

It is common to communicate with each other in ways that do not really express what we want to say, or in a way that is damaging to relationships. When we become more aware of how we communicate, we can begin to shift towards how we want to communicate, in a way that is healthy and respectful to all. Assertive communication is the goal!

Most people do not immediately sustain the new changes they are attempting to make, and a return to old behaviors after a period of change is the rule rather than the exception. These experiences contribute information that can facilitate or hinder subsequent progression through the stages of change

The young people who attend Blue Ridge enroll for a variety of reasons, but there are common threads, low frustration tolerance, inability to advocate successfully for themselves, magical thinking, ineffective problem solving, patterns of avoidance, etc. Choice Theory, developed by Dr. William Glasser, functions off the premise that all behavior is communicating something and it is typically out of a desire to meet one of basic needs.

Approaches to parenting vary and your parenting style is influenced by your own parents, your personality, what you learn from people around you, the stresses you face in your life, and your child’s personality and behavior. Therefore, your approach to your child is as unique as you are.

The Drama Triangle, first described by Dr. Stephen Karpman a pioneer in the field of transactional analysis, identifies 3 predictable (often unconscious) roles that people in problem situations can find themselves in.

The webinars below provides an overview of adolescent (and young adult) developmental theory. Specially, in a three-part webinar you will learn about Differentiation and in the Identity Development webinar you will learn about Erikson's model of Psychosocial Development, James Marcia's Identity Statuses and Kohlberg's stages of Moral Development. Please watch the webinars and jot down any questions you have about how the material applies to you and child.

By learning to correctly identify cognitive distortions, we can refute the negative and inaccurate thought. By consistently refuting the negative thinking, it will slowly diminish and be replaced by more rational, balanced thinking.

Core values are traits or qualities that represent an individual’s or organization’s highest priorities, deeply help beliefs, and fundamental driving forces.

The Shame Cycle is a destructive pattern of thoughts and behaviors that can lead to feelings of worthlessness, isolation, and depression.

The focus of this section is moving forward with a healthy relationship. At times it is necessary to address the past in a structured, intentional way so that the future can be embraced. Below you will find an assignment called the "Four R's." It is an assignment that has helped many families let go of past resentments so they can focus on building a successful, healthy future. Please talk with you family therapist and your primary therapist to see if this assignment would benefit your family.

While we understand that not all parents are able to attend the Parent Workshop, we strongly encourage every parent to review and practice the material we present at the Parent Workshop. This section of the Parent Pathway outlines very specifically the connect we cover at the workshop as well as where you can find this material on the Parent Pathway. If you are not able to attend the Parent Workshop, please prioritize becoming familiar with this material.

In this section you will find information about Family Intensives. In short, Family Intensives are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring your family together. Over the course of three days and two nights, you will reconnect with your child, witness the growth that has been made, have fun, dive into facilitated therapeutic conversations and practice new family patterns.

A Field Visit is an opportunity to visit with your child during their time enrolled in the program. These visits are based on the clinical recommendation of your child's primary therapist.

Transition is the part of the Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness journey where students prepare to exit the program and re-emerge to their lives. This is a camp where students and families reunite to find closure with their wilderness experience together and to prepare for the next step in their life journey.

Whether your child is going home, to a Residential Treatment Center or a Transitional Young Adult program, support after Emerald Arrow is critical to long-term success.