Stories from the Field: Mental Health and the Outdoors

Tracey Bachrach is the Director of Business Development at Point School, Puerto Rico. Tracey entry into the wilderness field started when she as a field guide at SUWS of the Carolina's. She worked at SUWS for over four years, which translates into two years living in the outdoors. She encourages young people interested in the wilderness field to find a program in an area where they want to live and jump right in.

Tracey is now living in Puerto Rico and working at the Point School. She states that "wilderness therapy can occur in any outdoor setting." She shares that at the Point School young men "learn to surf, scuba dive and are incredibly active." Tracey has studied with the leaders Positive Psychology filed and applies what she has learned to all parts of her life.

Margie Lannon is Co-Founder of Onward Transitions a young adult transition program located in Portland, Maine. Margie had worked for 26 years in the wilderness field. She started as field staff on wagon trains that crossed the country and transitioned to being a program director on tall-ships that crossed the ocean with inner-city youth when she worked at VisionQuest. She would transition to Summit Achievement in 1999 where she was program director for over a decade. Margie's encourages people those entering the field, "to listen and absorb feedback to see what is true and what is not."

Margie's two passions are working with "troubled teens and the elderly." She pursues both as CFO of Onward Transitions in Portland, Maine and the owner of Homewatch Caregivers of Tucson, Arizona.

Lily Wilkinson is the Outreach Director of Aim House in Boulder, CO. Lily's entry into the wilderness field occurred when she was eighteen years old and enrolled in a wilderness therapy program which she says, "saved my life." Lily describes her journey of growing up in a supportive family yet struggling with crippling anxiety. She developed several maladaptive coping skills, which resulted in numerous challenges throughout her teen years. Lily shares her story and how wilderness therapy helped her gain the insight she needed to make changes in her life.

After completing her wilderness therapy program, Lily transitioned to AIM House in 2010 as a participant. Lily excelled in the AIM House program as well as in the Boulder community. While at the University of Colorado, Lily became very involved in the creation and growth of the CU Collegiate Recovery Program. After graduation, she began working with students in recovery from addiction and other mental health challenges. She joined AIM House as Outreach Director in 2010.

Audrey Peavey is Outreach Director at Potomac Program. Audrey's entry into the field occurred in 2001 when a friend of hers asked her to be the admissions director of New Horizons for Young Women. New Horizons for Young Women was a wilderness program located in Maine that worked exclusively with girls ages 13-18. Audrey worked at the program from the day it opened in 2000 to the day it closed in 2008. Audrey recounts the unique history of the program and what she learned in the process. Audrey has served the field in many ways, including being a board member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP).

She encourages women entering the field to "find great women mentors" and get connected with Evolvingwomen.net.

Audrey Peavey is currently Outreach Director at Potomac Programs which provides coaching, intensive outpatient services, and partial hospital programs in different locations across the country.

Angie Shockley is the founder of Q & A Associates, located in Davis, West Virginia. Q & A Associates has three different programs that help young adults who have struggled to sustain a productive and positive transition into adulthood.

Angie began working in the field in the mid-1990s at an adjudicated boys program in West Virginia. She became disenchanted in the state-run program and joined Alldredge Academy in 2001 as the educational director. She eventually became the Executive Director at Alldredge Academy and directed it for five years. The program was sold to a larger corporation and it ended up closing shortly thereafter.

Angie went onto work at Eckerd Youth Alternatives for five years to help that program move into the private pay market. Angie encourages those interested in working in the field to,"spend time growing up and then step into your power."

Mary Hickey is a parent coach at Parent Coaching Professionals and Second Nature Wilderness. Her journey into the field started as a child at summer camp and progressed at Prescott College in the 1990s, where she first learned about wilderness therapy. Mary began working in the field in 1997 at WildernessQuest. She recounts the primitive skills orientation of WildernessQuest and how she became a lead instructor shortly after starting. She encourages those interested in the field to "be open" to the process and set aside personal agendas.

She shares how she did 210 field days in less than a year as she would work six weeks at WildernessQuest. Mary went on to work at Spring Ridge Academy, an all-girls boarding school in Prescott where 80% of the students had come from wilderness. She has moved onto doing parent coaching, and she shares how she works with families.

Sarah Mack is Director of Parent Coaching at Second Nature Wilderness Therapy. She has been a leader in the field for over 25 years. For the majority of her career in wilderness therapy, she worked at Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy, which she joined in 1994. Sarah recounts the history of Catherine Freer Wilderness, including its unique model, her role in the executive team, its contributions to the field, and how the program closed in 2012. She encourages women entering the field to be "feel empowered and dive in."

Sarah shares how she fell in love with the parent coaching and how she became certified as a parent coach as well as how a parent coach helps families who teen or young adult is in wilderness therapy. Sarah encourages families to realize that they must go through a change process while their teen or young adult is wilderness or things will regress back to old patterns.

Heidi Strand is Executive Director at Lake House Academy in North Carolina. Heidi worked for more than 20 years as a professional in organized camping including Girl Scout camps as well as being the director of several summer camps. She found her first job in the field as the Executive Director at New Visions Wilderness field via Facebook. Heidi believes strongly in cultivating mentors in the field. Her advice to anyone (men or women) interested in the field is to "find your voice" and "you have to be clear about what you want and be honest with yourself about this journey."

Heidi is now Executive Director at Lake House Academy is a therapeutic boarding school for girls ages 10-14 where the leadership team is all women

Patricia Ruggles, LCPC, is a Therapeutic Consultant at Mason and Associates. Trish has been working in the wilderness therapy field for over 15 years in a variety of positions including field staff, team leader, and therapist. She has worked all over the country, including Oregon, New York, and Maine. Her advice to women interested in the field is to "be curious, be open, and be brave."

Trish shares her story of being raised in Maine and going to college to study quantitative research. After college she Googles, "Maine, Women and Clinical" and comes upon a wilderness therapy job at New Horizons for Young Women (which closed in 2008) and gets a job. So begins her long career in the field. In her career, she has worked at Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy, Adirondack Leadership Expeditions, and Summit Achievement.

Mike Petree, Founder of Petree Consulting, which helps wilderness therapy programs do evidenced-based research by teaching effective ways to collect data and review outcomes.

Mike shares his story on how in 1999 he and his wife, Bekkah, who both had high paying jobs decided to respond to a help-wanted ad for wilderness therapy field guides and shortly after that received a VCR cassette. The video, from Red Cliff Ascent, changed their lives forever as after viewing it, they quit their jobs and decided to work together as wilderness field guides for the first several years of their marriage. Mike also shares how, during his orientation training, he had an experience that confirmed to him that he was following the right path into wilderness therapy.

Mike has had many roles in the wilderness therapy field, but his strength is in looking at the data to see what is and what is not working in the field of wilderness therapy.