Trails Carolina offers young people an engaging wilderness therapy experience; however, recent allegations have raised serious concerns regarding participant safety and lack of government regulation.
Complaints have included physical and emotional abuse, poor supervision, disregard for students’ welfare and qualifications of staff members.
The Program
Trails’ approach utilizes nature while simultaneously developing healthy interpersonal skills in your child.
Research by CReATE shows that one year post graduation, students continue to report improvements in behavior, relationships and self-esteem that last – made possible through Trails’ individual therapy, transitional support and family counseling sessions.
Due to recent Trails Carolina Horror Stories, it is essential to keep in mind that when conducted ethically and responsibly, wilderness therapy can be an effective treatment option for troubled adolescents. Trails Carolina serves as an important reminder that participants’ safety must always come first in wilderness programs – this can be accomplished through transparency, accountability, and dedication to improvement; ultimately this is how trust in this field can be restored; there are many effective and safe alternatives to traditional therapeutic modalities which offer similar solutions.
The Staff
Trails Carolina staff members are all experts in wilderness therapy, and all enjoy working as wilderness therapy specialists. It gives them great satisfaction to see positive transformation in their students over time; though not an easy job, it makes all the difference when seen from another angle!
Graham Shannonhouse has over two decades of experience with Wilderness Therapy programs and his leadership team averages fifteen years’ worth of similar work experience in residential treatment, therapeutic boarding schools, and wilderness settings.
Trails’ program integrates backcountry expedition and base camp programming to assist teens with behavioral issues and addictions, and foster family healing. Workshops and family therapy sessions may also be offered here, such as mid-point parent workshops and the Common Ground Experience experience. Staff at Trails also pays close attention to helping their students adjust back home successfully – an integral component to long-term success.
The Environment
Trails Carolina program specializes in providing support to adolescents undergoing various challenges. Participants immerse themselves in natural surroundings to encourage self-reflection and emotional healing, but recent disturbing accounts have cast serious doubt upon its credibility, with allegations regarding staff-to-participant ratios, food/sleep deprivation, mistreatment of participants, etc.
This program is supported by an expansive network of partners that includes state and local agencies, non-profit land trust organizations and private landowners. Together these stakeholders provide advocacy, promotion, volunteer recruitment/management/organization/planning as well as trail construction.
Every section sponsor manages his/her segment of a trail independently, making decisions regarding location, surface type and permitted uses. Trails Carolina offers guidance and assistance to each section sponsor. Each trail has its own website with detailed corridor information as well as lists of volunteers and section sponsors; map downloads; guidebook purchase options and trail journal.
The Cost
Trails are an indispensable element of Ohio’s $28 billion outdoor economy. Every dollar spent on trail building has positive ripple effects in terms of tourism, events, community improvement, property values appreciation, health care cost savings as well as jobs and investment. Therefore, the General Assembly should make continued investments into authorized State Trails by supporting Great Trails State Coalition funding goals during this legislative session.
Reilly is just one of many individuals to describe Trails Carolina Therapeutic Wilderness Program in Lake Toxaway as a nightmare of therapeutic wilderness programs, advertising itself as an alternative to psychiatric hospitals. At an estimated cost of at least $30K for three month stays and little or no training provided prior to participating on backcountry excursions; staff who oversee them in the woods make minimum wage.
This program is part of a lucrative industry that preys upon parental desperation. Parents sign their children up with hopeful promises, yet when in the field their kids only meet with trained therapists for one hour per week.