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Call (866) 845-1391 to learn more about Aspen's programs for children, teens, and young adults.

Mount Bachelor's emotional growth program emphasizes acquisition of self-awareness, self-esteem, and development of problem-solving and decision-making skills through experiential learning. Students learn to address issues that have prevented them from achieving academic and personal success in a highly structured, nurturing, healthy peer environment.

For adopted teens, Mount Bachelor offers the nation's premiere curriculum and residential support for adolescents coming to terms with adoption and loss.

SUWS - Over 25 Years of Successfully Helping Families

Since 1981, SUWS has been giving children and their families hope for a positive and productive future. SUWS wilderness programs specialize in providing a safe and therapeutic environment that allows troubled and defiant teens to identify and work through emotional obstacles. Combing the wilderness environment with experiential learning helps students learn to value themselves, access their own abilities and build upon their strengths.

If you are concerned about your teen's future call (866) 845-1391 today. We can help.

Dying to Fit In: When School Stresses Trigger Eating Disorders

With such a great degree of attention being focused on the obesity epidemic among America's youth in recent years, parents and students might be forgiven for thinking that the "freshman fifteen" and other similar gains are the only serious weight-related challenges facing them and their families.

But as young people across the country return to the classroom, many high school and college students may experience back-to-school stressors that lead to unhealthy, and in some cases life-threatening, weight losses.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, cases of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating have been on the rise for nearly a century, with school-aged young women and men bearing the brunt of these conditions:

• An estimated 10 million women and one million men are afflicted with an eating disorder.
• Eighty percent of Americans say they are unhappy with their appearance.
• More than half of all teenage girls and almost one-third of teenage boys engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, refusing to eat, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.
• More than 80 percent of U.S. 10-year-olds who participated in a 1991 study said they were afraid of being fat.
• Forty percent of newly diagnosed cases of anorexia involve female patients between the ages of 15 and 19.
• The prevalence of anorexia in women ages 15 to 19 has increased every decade since 1930.
• The rate of bulimia in girls and women ages 10 to 39 increased by 300 percent between 1988 and 1993.

Inspiring Teens with the Silent Power of Wilderness

In today's high-speed, information-overloaded society, it often seems as though there's nothing that networked, always-on-the-go American teens can't get, see, or do. But when Jerrie Dee Harvey leads a group of struggling adolescents into the Idaho desert, she introduces them to a new experience that has the powerful potential to change their lives: silence.

A wilderness therapist with SUWS Adolescent and Youth Programs in Shoshone, Idaho, Harvey helps troubled teens regain control over their lives and re-focus their efforts toward achieving their greatest potential. And though she is quick to credit the experience of the SUWS staff, and the innovations inherent in the renowned program, for helping the students get themselves back on track, she is just as certain that the environment in which the work is accomplished is an essential component of SUWS' success rate.

"The wilderness is a freeing environment," Harvey said. "It strips the kids of distractions, so they can find their center and can redefine who they are and what they believe."

Why Wilderness?
SUWS isn't the only program that emphasizes positive thinking and personal reflection, but Harvey believes that where this message is delivered can be just as important as how it is taught. Taking young people into the wilderness, she said, puts them into a contemplative environment that is rich in both challenges and support - a place where personal problems can be properly addressed, and previously hidden inner strengths can emerge.

"The wilderness is a place where we can be quiet and listen to our thoughts," Harvey said. "When we work with kids in the wilderness, we can speak to them in a quiet voice."

Learn more about the leadership skills and life lessons troubled teens learn while at SUWS >>

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