I found this article though it is quite old now. it is as if this girl never left RMA. She lived with other students from there and then opened her own program
http://www.educationupdate.com/archives ... tml#letter Wilderness Camp Helps Heal
By Pola Rosen, Ed.d.
By the time Jacqueline Danforth, a Dalton student, was fifteen years old, she was into drugs, gangs, and alcohol. It was time for drastic action. Her mother, Barbara Walters, researched different options and Jackie entered the Rocky Mountain Academy, a 3-year degree-granting (high school diploma) wilderness school in Idaho. After 3 and 1/2 years, Jackie graduated with much more than a high school degree. “It was a place where people cared, where people understood and were honest.” Although not agreeing with certain techniques used such as sleep deprivation, the program helped her and others achieve self-esteem and feel good about themselves. Jackie did not return to her home in New York, a place she had not had much happiness. Instead, she lived with older students from the school in Oregon, then Washington state, finally enrolling in a marine biology program at the University of Maine. Feeling uncomfortable and isolated at the age of thirty, in a college community of 18 year-olds, she soon decided to opt for establishing her own wilderness camp for troubled teenage girls, ages 13-17. New Horizons Wilderness Camp, completing its first year, “is an unlocked, nurturing and caring environment,” says Danforth. Her husband, a registered Maine guide, is a vital part of the program. Along with hiking, canoeing, camping and cookouts in summer and snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and cabin life in winter, the girls get “fresh air, time and peace and the freedom to be yourself for 8 weeks.” Danforth’s message is “It’s you and me; I really want to help you!”
There are 4-5 staff per group of 7 girls, and two therapists to supervise. Group discussions are interwoven throughout the day and may last 1-3 hours depending on the needs of the girls. Danforth feels that computers make kids socially inept. “Kids, especially women, need companionship.”
On a typical day, girls wake at 7 am, wash up, cut and gather wood, cook meals with the staff over a fire, and then do journal writing. They are only allowed to receive letters from home, not phone calls. Danforth explained, phoning can lead to shouting and disruption. The girls then pack up, canoe to the next site and have lunch. After a group session, they set up camp, have dinner and do more journal writing. Reading comes next. Books on hand are, for example, Reviving Ophelia.
The girls work on different values each week. Truth (what is the truth about you?), friendship, forgiveness, transition, acceptance. Each phase deals with them, their families and peers.
Horizons provides excellent food and all clothing. Currently there are 55 girls who are tracked for four years after they leave the program.
Who benefits from this program? Girls who are depressed, mildly self-abusive, have poor body image or are bipolar (who are stabilized on medication). “Borderline personality disorders are tough” said Danforth. “They take a lot of attention, and are disruptive to the point of hurting the others because they want all the attention.”
For suicidal girls we make a contract. She agrees to come and talk to us before she does anything. The contract gives her a measure of control.There are also contracts for self-mutilation and running away. Said Danforth, “We set boundaries; that leads to a set of values and self-respect.”
To the question, what role do you play in the camp, Danforth answered, “A big sister.” She talks to the girls about her own experiences, about adoptive issues and is a resource person who has “been there, done that.” Her vision for the future is to run a school that will be separate from the wilderness program. “It will be a three year program with individual and group therapy. There will be no home visits; the girls will go on expeditions in the first year and gradually taper therapy and include more home visits by the third year. There will be high quality academics and non-competitive sports like yoga, ballet and martial arts.”
The high points of Danforth’s life are the “hugs and embraces whenever a girl leaves and says how wonderful we are and that she wants to come back and work for us.”#
