Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors

Chris Luchesi is a field guide at Legacy Outdoor Adventures. Chris grew up outside of Boston but had not even heard of wilderness therapy until he was in his 30's. Chris was on a career track working for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston when he "heard the call" of working in wilderness therapy after learning about Outward Bound and Legacy. He shares his remarkable story of leaving everything he was familiar with to move to Utah and work as a field guide at Legacy at the age of 38

Guy Dumas is a coach of graduates of wilderness programs (guydumas.com). Guy joined the wilderness therapy field in 1996 direct from the Army where he was a graduate of West Point and the Army's Ranger School. He began working at Aspen Achievement Academy and found a new mission. Over 1000 days in the field. Over 500 days carrying a survival pack. Over 10,000 hours of practice. He shares stories from his early days in wilderness and how being a field guide "helped train me to be a good parent."

Dr. Christine Norton is a leading researcher, practitioner, and teacher in the field of wilderness therapy. She is an associate professor of social work at Texas State University, a researcher at the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Center, and was field staff at Outward Bound and the Dallas Salesmanship Club Camp. Christine shares her journey into wilderness therapy from being raised as an evangelical minister's daughter to becoming a leading researcher/practitioner of wilderness therapy. Christine shares some of the challenges she has faced in her journey as a woman in wilderness therapy and how she has responded to those challenges.

Shannon Palentchar is the Director of Admission of Summit Achievement in Maine. Shannon grew up in North Carolina and went on an Outward Bound course right after high school and it changed the direction of her life. She became a river guide which helped her to pay her way through college. Shannon was a field guide at SUWS of the Carolina's in the early 2000's. She would then go onto work at Stone Mountain School as a residential staff and then admissions director. Shannon joined Summit Achievement in 2014.

Shannon shares her stories about how important it is to have good boundaries as a field staff or admissions director in a wilderness program.

Emily Fernandes is co-founder and executive director at Open Sky Wilderness Therapy. Emily grew up in Vermont and went to college in Maine. Emily started working in the field in 1995 at The Wilderness School in Connecticut and went onto work at Aspen Achievement Academy in Utah. She co-founded Open Sky Wilderness in 2005 with Aaron Fernandes who would later become her husband. She shares her stories of being a field guide, clinician, clinical director and co-founder of a wilderness therapy program.

She shares her experiences of doing over 1000 field days as a field guide as well as being on the television show, "Brat Camp."

Hilary Moses, Co-Owner of Solutions Parenting Support, has worked in the wilderness field since 2001. She has been a field guide and a therapist at SUWS of Idaho as well as therapist and clinical director at Pacific Quest. Hilary journey into the field began as a young person when traveling to wilderness programs with her mother who is an educational consultant.

Hilary's story includes being on the first rolling admissions team at SUWS and joining Pacific Quest a year after it opened. She shares stories of "powerhouse women" in the field and her coaching model with families.

Joanna Lilley is the founder of Lilley Consulting, which is a therapeutic consulting practice that specializes in helping young adults (ages 17 plus) and their families. Joanna's journey into the field started as a young person when she would accompany her father to his work at a group home for adolescent boys. Her father would take the boys camping, which inspired Joanna. After college Joanna interned at SOAR and then was a field guide at True North Wilderness and then at the Wilderness School in Connecticut. She would go onto work at two Universities where she was an academic coach for students on academic probation. From these experiences, she was inspired to start her consulting practice.

As a field guide, Joanna learned how to "work with those who are not self-motivated" and encourages young people interested in wilderness therapy to start as a field guide.

Karen Scrafford is co-founder and program director of Elements Wilderness Therapy located in Utah. Her journey into the field began when she went to school at Indiana University. After graduation, she headed to Utah and began to work first as a field guide, assistant field guide, then admissions at Second Nature. Karen shares how she was approached by the other co-founders of Elements to start the program because of her amazing work ethic. Karen was just elected to be the vice-chair of the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council and her vision for the future of the field.

Dr. Justine O'Donnell is a psychologist who specializes in performing neuropsychological evaluations for young people while they are enrolled in wilderness therapy programs. Justine started her journey into the wilderness therapy field as a field guide at SUWS of Idaho. When she started at SUWS field guides would go out into the field for three weeks at a time. She shares her story of being a field guide, then becoming a licensed psychologist and returning to the field. She was a clinician at SUWS of Idaho and True North Wilderness Therapy. She is now a psychologist who does neuropsychological testing with students at wilderness therapy programs all over the country. She shares how she felt that "being a woman working in the wilderness therapy field was very empowering" and how her closest relationships are still from her days as a field guide.

Anngela Wells Starnes is the Director of Admissions and Marketing for Q and A Associates in West Virginia. Anngela's entry into the wilderness therapy field started as a child for her father, Larry Wells, was one of the pioneers in the primitive skills model of wilderness therapy. Angela worked at Expedition Outreach as a teen and Wilderness Quest as an adult after taking several years away from the field while struggling with addiction and recovery. She was the admissions director at Wilderness Quest for over 18 years which her father, and step-mother, owned and operated. Angela shares her story and encourages those entering the field to remember "it is really about the families we serve and every life is important."