Learning Opportunities Through Adventure Therapy
The Adventure Therapy program is an integrated part of the clinical program, designed to support each individual’s therapeutic goals through outdoor recreation, experiential education, and community service. Weekly activities, overnight adventure trips, and community service provide opportunities for our students to apply the skills they’re learning in groups and therapy sessions in a real life setting.
Adventure based activities push physical and emotional limits. Students learn how to trust their abilities, overcome thoughts of self-doubt, build self-confidence, and learn patience and compassion for self and others. Lessons learned in adventure activities translate to other aspects of their process at Solstice such as academics, individual and family therapy, and peer relationships.
Make Positive, Lasting Changes
Learn how our therapeutic program helps promote long-term changes in the lives of our students. Connect with our Admissions team today.
Camping Trips
Students participate in overnight adventure trips that provide opportunities to apply learned outdoor skills and challenge the individual and team dynamics. During these trips, we focus on problem solving, self-sufficiency, and the value of shared experience. We travel far and wide.
- Mountain biking in Moab
- Hiking in Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, and Arches National Park
- Whitewater rafting in Jackson, UT
- Canoeing in the Uinta Mountains
- Climbing at the City of Rocks
As clinicians, these trips offer us insight into our students’ progress and growth.
A few weeks before the camping trip takes place, students learn and practice a new skill that they’ll be participating in during the camping trip to prepare for their adventures. These skills can include activities like mountain biking, climbing, and hiking.
Often, therapists and team teachers join the camping trips. These camping trips are great opportunities for therapeutic and academic staff to observe the ways in which students interact within a setting outside of the Solstice campus.
During these trips, students often experience a great deal of personal growth, which looks different for every student. Students express that they have started to overcome feelings of self-doubt, found more space for patience, or gained more confidence. These all contribute to individual students’ development of a renewed sense of self.
We offer a series of adventure based parent/child trips. These trips are a great opportunity for parents to spend quality time with their child, create new positive memories, and to practice skills learned in family therapy.
Weekly Activities
Utah provides a varied and challenging outdoor classroom. Our adventure therapy programming provides opportunity to gain proficiency in a range of outdoor recreation skills including: alpine skiing and snowboarding, cross country skiing, rock climbing, canoeing, stand up paddle boarding, hiking, and mountain biking.
In addition, our students explore a wide range of cultural and leisure activities, attending local cooking and art classes, community events, museums, and seasonal activities. Our goal is that our students leave Solstice with healthy, life-long interests and skills.