Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Anasazi Foundation offers wilderness therapy for teens facing mental health challenges.
- Utah mom Carrie Rice credits the program for helping her children thrive.
- New film "The Wilderness" highlights wilderness therapy, sparking discussions on its effectiveness.
SALT LAKE CITY — More than 5,000 people have participated in the nature-based therapeutic program offered by the Anasazi Foundation for nearly four decades.
The nonprofit organization offers a space for teens struggling with mental health, anxiety, problems with family members, substance abuse — or any number of forms of crisis — to experience wilderness therapy.
Teens ages 12-17 and adults 18 and up spend a minimum of 49 days hiking in an Arizona desert. They are joined by trail staff offering compassion and care throughout the journey.
Having to cross state lines was no barrier for one Weber County mother who has two children who went through Anasazi's program within the last five years.
Carrie Rice, of Marriott-Slaterville, said she sought out therapy for her son four years ago, when he was having a hard time at school.
"He was really struggling in school: not getting even passing grades, not showing up, a lot of dishonesty issues. And we were just really concerned for him and the trajectory of his life," she said.
Rice said she looked into various options for her son, but it was Anasazi's approach that stood out.
While she admits to having some nervousness in sending her son away to the therapeutic experience, the result was a positive one.
"Obviously, (we) had some fears — you know, sending your kid away to do something really hard like that — but he came back and really, really loved the program and almost had, like, a reverence for it," Rice told KSL.com.
Over the summer, Rice said her daughter also went through the program after battling severe depression and anxiety, despite previous counseling.
She said her daughter initially resisted the Anasazi program, but decided to try it just in the nick of time.
"She got to the point where we were in an emergency type situation — life or death — and we brought it up to her, and she said, 'Yeah, I'm willing to go into the program,'" Rice recalled.
Both of her children enjoyed and thrived during the experience, Rice said.
Anasazi's website describes the experience as a primitive lifestyle for young walkers, in which they hike up to 10 miles a day and camp in different locations. The program provides participants with a "distraction-free environment" for self-reflection, accountability and responsibility. Parents are also involved in the experience.
The organization said 80% of families who go through the program found it improved their relationships.
"When you send them to Anasazi, it's not only an opportunity for the kids to go through this experience, it also is an opportunity for the parents to turn their hearts back to their kids," Rice said.
The Utah mom said she knows not all wilderness therapy programs are created equal, and she'd even contacted other organizations before landing on Anasazi.
Leaders of the nonprofit organization said they don't use any tactics that involve force, coercion or anything that would be deemed unsafe.
A new movie filmed in Utah, titled "The Wilderness", was released on Oct. 17 and puts a spotlight on the form of therapy.
The film centers on so-called troubled teens attending a Wilderness Therapy program in Utah's desert as they navigate personal challenges in the outback, according to an online synopsis.
Nate Mitchell, director of parent services at Anasazi, said he hasn't seen the movie, and while he doesn't dismiss anyone's past experience with a wilderness therapy program, the organization stands by its standards for safety, compassion and transformation.
"I think the similarities would be that they're done outside. I think it probably ends there," he said. "Maybe they do some hiking, some of those other things. But our philosophy of care, the way that we regard not only the young walkers, but the entire family system, is really different."
Richard Long, who did the program nearly 30 years ago, then returned as a trail walker, also stands by Anasazi's safety priorities.
Long said his parents sent him to Anasazi because he was getting into trouble at school. He praised the program for empowering him to lead a better life and for helping to shape his career today as an assistant principal.
"Anasazi was a master class on how to intervene in people's lives in a healthy, productive, positive way," he recounted. "And then for me, as a trail walker, that was a master class on how to lead in a productive and positive way. And so I'm just so grateful for those principles that I learned."
For Rice, the program's non-punishment-based approach has been beneficial to her children's confidence and ability to face challenges, as well as for her growth as a parent.
"I do feel like there was divine intervention, and showing me kind of the path that would be good for my kids. Like, I knew that this would be a really great thing to do for them," she said.
