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Messages - Abir

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1
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: February 17, 2011, 01:46:36 AM »
Hi all,
I will try to answer your doubts:
1. There are four main points that we differ from "Lotan Way":
    a. The length of our program, ours is 38 days, Lotan usually runs short programs ( a week or so)
    b. The target population, we target teens from north america, Lotan focuses mainly on the Israeli kids
    c. Lotan is a Non profit Organization "living" mainly from contributions and donations. We are a private organization. We have
       decided that we do not want to depend on donations.
    d. We offer wilderness PROGRAMS and not THERAPY (although we have clinical psychologists on our staff) because our overall concept
       is diffrent (as presented in our site)

Have a good weeekend.
Shaul

2
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: February 05, 2011, 04:58:23 AM »
Hi Ursus,
Sorry for the late response, as to your questions:
1. Lotan (their full name is "Derech Lotan") is a very serious and legitimate Israeli non profit organization. The main difference between them and us is that they normally run short wilderness programs (a week or so) for israeli school kids not necessarily teens at risk.
As you know our program is much longer (38 days) and offered to teenagers at risk mainly in the US and Canada.
2. As to the cost mentioned in an earlier post and the suggestion to "leave the money in the US" I can say that I am sure that in the US there are also good programs. Our program is very good and different and I am sure that parents and kids can tell the difference and hopefully choose us.
Have a good weekend,
Shaul

3
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: December 15, 2010, 01:18:51 AM »
hi Ursus,
1. No prescreening process will be conducted in the country of residence. We will use questionnaires, phone conversations, skype, e mail etc...Our professionals will contact other professionals as needed (consultants, psychologists, MD's etc...). This is true for parents and kids.

2. True, flight tickets costs are around 1200 USD per person (round trip) depending on from where they are departing in the USA and when. We know that our program is unique and different (and I think that you may have noticed this as well), so families would consider it from all aspects not only the financial one. How would you quantify in USD the value of helping a kid that was lost....I am sure that it is way more than 25K USD...
have a good weekend
Shaul

4
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: December 10, 2010, 03:39:44 PM »
Hi Ursus,
I will do my best to answer:
1. As mentioned before (and it is also mentioned in our website), We do not accept kids who do not want to join the program even if their parents want them to do so.
2. The parents are a very important part of our program: they have to commit themselves and come for 8 days (from day 30th to day 38) and participate in various trainings and workshops (for details please see the "parents' program part in our website).
3. We will have a Teen Zone in our website (coming very soon, right now yo can see only the homepage of our Teen Zone)) in which we explain in details everything in regard to the program. We do intend to talk to each kid and make sure he/she understands what it is all about.
4. We are totally transparent in regards to everything starting from the cost, cancellation policy, enrollment agreement and a quiet detailed website that presents everything we could think about.
5. Our "philosophy", way of doing things, way of thinking etc...is clearly presented in our site, and the words there are so straightforward and sharp clear.

And on top of all, our values and ethics will not permit using deception in order to build trust...It simply does not make sense !!! How could one build trust based on lies and deception?

In addition, by the end of the day you could believe me or not...I hope that the more we talk, exchange ideas and know each other better, trust will be built between us and the other members that read these lines.
have a good weekend,
shaul

5
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: December 08, 2010, 11:47:52 AM »
Heretik and Yael Shalom,
Thank you for your information and highlights.

I was not aware of the following:

"many of the "teen help" programs in the industry use what is euphemistically called a "transportation / escort service" - which essentially means kidnapping the teen (with their parents' approval) out of their bed in the middle of the night, and detaining them in the program against their will without due process."

I fully condem those kinds of practices and can assure you that we will never do that!
Thanks again
Shaul

6
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: December 06, 2010, 02:45:07 PM »
Hi all,
1. Our site is "on the air" so you are more than welcome to visit, read and understand more about us, our concept, philosophy etc...so I am sure that many questions raised here previously by some members, will be more clear (we are still working on the site, some things will be added and corrections will be made in the next few days).

2. I was somewhat surprised in regards to the many speculations, comments and ideas expressed here (some of them are pure insult if i may say this) based on nothing but a homepage with a notice that "our site is coming soon".

3. Among the many questions and points raised was one that I would like to answer: "...not against the teenager will" - That means that we will not accept to the program teenagers who do not want to participate in it! even if their parents want to! As simple as that. Just to let you know, we have in our site a mini site designed for teenagers in order to enable them to speak with us directly and get all the information they need.

4. Since I am the only one here that is not "under cover" meaning my details, name, address, phone numbers, email etc...are known to all,
 I would like to suggest to anyone who is really interested to know more about our program, to contact me by e mail directly and i will be more than happy to discuss things, explain and elaborate.

wishing you  all
Happy Chanuka and Merry Christmass
Shaul

7
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: December 03, 2010, 11:32:23 AM »
Thanks Ursus,
As to your first question, Irit, Einat & myself  have been working with troubled teens (and their parents) for many years, and we were very successful (if I may say that…).

In addition, as a kid I was something like what is called today "troubled teenager". Obviously I suffered a lot and luckily enough I was able to overcome great difficulties and pull myself together.

When I grew up, I was able to study and developed a career in HR, Training, consultancy and organizational psychology and worked a lot with my wife Irit in helping families in various ways (workshops, trainings, mediations, lectures, coaching and more). May I add that in many cases we volunteered to do so…Why? Because I never forget where I came from…

In recent years we thought about developing & leading a program that fits our philosophy (in regard to troubled teens and their families). We wanted to use our experiences and know how for the benefit of troubled teens and their families.

It took us some time to develop it, check options and possibilities and finally practically doing it…

We heard a lot about wilderness programs and some years ago started to investigate it. As usually with concepts, we liked some ideas, we did not like others and we created our own wilderness program that is applicable in Israel.

And here we are ready to do things differently, not a boot camp, not a brat camp and not against the teenager's will.

How? We invite you to visit our site, look at it and I am sure things will be clear.

The bottom line: For the three of us, it is a dream that comes true!
That answers (hopefully) your first question.  

As to your second question: All the materials, wordings etc… were written by us in Hebrew and translated by our copywriter- translator.
When you visit our site I am sure that you will be able to notice the uniqueness of the program we offer as well as the originality of the written materials.
If you have any other questions or doubts please do not hesitate to contact me.
Merry Christmas/happy Chanukah

Shaul Abir

8
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Darckenu Israel - new wilderness program abroad
« on: November 24, 2010, 05:04:51 PM »
Hi,
I am Shaul Abir one of the co-founders of Darckenu Israel. I have read most of the thread and i would like to invite whoever would like to, to ask me directly any question you might have and i will be more than happy to elaborate. Just to let you know, within a few days our site will be on and i am sure a lot of questions that have been raised will be answered.
Wishing you a pleaseant day.
Shaul

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