Adolescents entering the outdoor behavioral healthcare program are likely to have varying previous outdoor experiences and some may be confident and comfortable in a wilderness setting...others initially experience considerable stress and fear. Irregardless, each acquires basic outdoor living skills (Davis-Berman & Berman 2008) and are supported in striving toward self-reliance through excursions and processing by reflection. Transferring these wilderness experiences to other spheres, basic outdoor tasks like building a shelter or making a campfire, along with therapeutic exercises such as rappelling down a rock face or navigating to the next campsite increase self-efficacy, foster group cohesion and improve therapeutic benefits (Crisp 2006).…show more content… Harper et al. (2007) found telling positive changes two-months after adolescents and their families participated in outdoor behavioral healthcare. Family dynamics, adolescent behavior, and overall mental health issues all improved, implying outdoor behavioral healthcare may substantially contribute to restoring normative behaviors as well as lasting relational change for families. Bandoroff and Scherer (1994) found their participants moved from a family functioning in the clinical range to the normal range after therapy. Adolescent participants came back with reported drops in delinquency, improved parental rating of behavior, decreased police/court contact, and an increase in self concept. Bandoroff and Scherer also noted that participants found the outdoor behavioral healthcare experiential activities, metaphors, reflection sessions, family involvement, relationship skills training, and freedom to share their experiences with others to be especially helpful. Davis-Berman and Berman (2012) found that participants reflecting on their past experience in wilderness therapy several years ago still remarked lasting impact on their lives: lessons for life, stronger relationships with siblings, lessons for their children, self-confidence in perseverance, and continued journaling for coping. Bettmann et al. (2011) found that outdoor behavioral
