Wilderness Adventure Program

**Telos operates a Safety First! wilderness program as a part of its treatment regimen.  Since new and challenging experiences stimulate growth, teach social skills, and build personal competencies, residents can expect to participate in many new outdoor experiences, including backpacking, mountaineering, rock-climbing, whitewater rafting, fishing, canoeing, and snorkeling.

**Telos wilderness staff include Emergency Medical Technicians, professionally trained whitewater guides, trained swift water rescuers, and  Red Cross trained lifeguards.  All wilderness staff are also trained youth counselors and all possess, at minimum, current First Aid and CPR certification.  Telos is a long standing member of the Wilderness Medical Society, and also belongs to the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps.

**Telos operates its own wilderness training camp each spring, at a canoe-in location on a picturesque high mountain lake.  Other outdoor adventures are conducted on weekends during school months, and on week-long activities during non-school months.  Mountain treks up to 50 miles long, Lost Coast treks of 30 miles, and week-long explorations of Death Valley are common wilderness activities.  During a year's time, residents can expect to travel 150 miles afoot or afloat, camp 30 nights, climb 5 to 7 peaks, and rock climb and whitewater raft several times.

*By using our professional knowledge gained from conducting over thirty-eight years of safe wilderness activities with youth, we have created the "Peak Award" program, which uses colorful patches to recognize the achievements of our residents.  Our outdoor adventure programming emphasizes safety and concern for the environment.  Telos subscribes to the safety and environmental practices promulgated by the Association of Experiential Education.

**Telos' wilderness program is not a survival program!  All residents are well prepared from a food and equipment, as well as from a leadership standpoint, to safely and comfortably undertake the wilderness activities in which we participate.

**Why wilderness programming, you might ask?  Some of our philosophy supporting the use of wilderness adventures in bringing about the healthy growth and healing of our residents can be found in the following journal articles published in the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps journals:

Beyond Therapy

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