Family Turns to Wilderness Camp to Help Troubled Son
Feb 27, 2006, 04:20 PM CST
Rubin Education Resources
[Bentz's ex employer]
By Leslie Olsen
24-Hour News 8
This year, the parents of an estimated 15,000 teenagers nationwide will make the difficult decision to send their troubled children away.
A local family shared its painful story with 24-Hour News 8. The Larimores want others to know that sending kids to so-called "brat camps" in the desert really can help.
Austin Larimore, 17, attends Adademy Plus of Indiana, an alternative school in Carmel. This family hopes it's Austin's final stop on a difficult journey that began when he was fourteen.
"I learned anger from my father and it became pretty obvious I was teaching Austin anger," said Fred Larimore, Austin's father.
Austin suffers from ADHD. As he approached high school, his parents feared for his safety and mental health. They say no amount of counseling or medication helped. "Sending Austin away, probably the hardest thing I've ever done," said Larimore.
The Larimores sent their youngest son to a therapy wilderness camp in Utah for eight weeks, two different times. He was left in the desert with little more than a sleeping bag and a few other troubled teens and counselors for company.
"It's really hard. You lose everything you've had," said Austin.
The kids have no tents. If they act out, they are punished with cold food and long hikes.
"There have been deaths at wilderness programs that are abusive. Those would be the boot camp model. The wilderness programs I work with have a therapeutic model and are licensed and staffed by clinicians," said Kim Rubin, Rubin Educational Resources.
["Boot Camp Model"?? Red Rock Ranch, Catherine Freer, Skyline Journey, VisionQuest, Camp O'Neil, Obsidian Trails, Northstar, Eckherd are/were not Boot Camps.
Not sure about Summit Quest, Right of Passage, New Directions-2nd Chance.
Intentionally deceptive, or ignorant about the industry? Which WPs does Kim refer to?]
Rubins is a former special education teacher and psychology diagnostician. She has a business in New Mexico were she matches troubled kids with therapy programs nationwide. Many programs have the wilderness component followed by a stay of up to two years in a boarding school.
"It's very hard to send your child away, of course. You worry about them and miss them, but to some extent it's a relief. That's hard to say as a mother, but it's true," said Debra Normann-Larimore.
This family is far from healed, but the Larimores are talking publicly for the first time to give other families some hope."It taught us all a lot," said Fred Larimore.
"I'm not going to say its perfect. It's really not. It's always going to be a work in progress, but when there's problems at home, we can work it out a lot better," said Austin.
This kind of therapy can put families deep in debt. The average cost is between $3,000 and $9,000, according to several different websites. Some insurance policies will cover part of the therapy.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp? ... 0&nav=0Ra7 [ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2006-03-17 08:09 ]