The Nefarious Nature of Teen Wilderness Therapy Programs

• In Event: Harm Reduction: Critical Issues in 'Theory vs Practice'

Abstract

Since their inception, wilderness therapy programs have contributed to multiple deaths and injuries of youths, prompting an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, yet many of these programs remain operational. This paper explores how these programs market their services to parents and criminal justice stakeholders. Employing a content analysis of program websites, our findings demonstrate that nature is often constructed as a ‘healing environment,’ whereby youth are removed from dangerous spaces and brought back into touch with their ‘true selves’ via immersion in nature. Utilizing a Durkhemian framework, we highlight that such characterization emphasizes a distinction between the sacred and the profane through which nature is claimed to be healing and restorative (i.e., sacred). At the same time, the youths’ life outside of such a setting is constructed as harmful and destructive (i.e., profane). This dichotomy accomplishes the goal of persuading parents intent on finding help for their child that the child must be removed from their current environment to be ‘restored.’ Additionally, in light of the extensive accounts of injury and abuse documented in these programs, our paper explores the rhetorical mechanisms of denial employed by these programs to justify and minimize their harmful practices.

Authors

• Joshua H. Stout, Illinois State University

• Kaitlyn Selman, Illinois State University

• Brenna Jones, Illinois State University

• Pavel Ahmed, Illinois State University