Why Wilderness Adventure?
There is a need.
Across many communities, including Native America, there is a powerful tool that has been forgotten. Due to a lack of resources, awareness, or training, backcountry adventure has been underutilized for holistic healing. WILD 38 provides an opportunity to experience the benefits of the wilderness to underserved communities. The wilderness provides transformative care to youth that have experienced significant adverse childhood experiences. Using a holistic approach to address these setbacks, we focus on physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual healing.
Core Values
Confident Exploration
Everyone should have the ability and opportunity to confidently explore the wild world around them.
Holistic Healing
The wilderness has the capacity to assist in life-changing healing. Holistic healing consists of physical, behavioral, and spiritual healing.
Careful Stewardship
The land is a gift to all of us. Let's take care of it.
Core Methods
Physical
Hiking and other outdoor related activities (i.e. fishing, rappelling, rock climbing, canoeing etc.) are an integral part of each trip. Whether through day hikes or a part of a longer backpacking trip, physical activities are crucial. Through learning wilderness survival skills, youth develop the confidence to explore the wild world around them and engage independently with a free health resource available to them. Regulation through physical activity is one of the most important components to addressing every other area of holistic health. Though most of the health issues affecting youth today are not physical in nature, physical activity opens the student’s mind to begin addressing real issues.
Mental
Being removed from regular routine and faced with new obstacles, students practice critical thinking skills necessary to living confident, productive lives. Through times of personal reflection and challenges that promote personal responsibility, WILD 38 creates an atmosphere of mental healing and growth.
Emotional
Teaching youth healthy coping skills in group settings to deal with stress and negative feelings, WILD 38 gives young people the tools needed to process and deal with intense, emotional situations with self-control. Outdoor recreation has been proven to be an effective tool to combat anxiety, depression, and stress while promoting self-awareness.
Social
Developing healthy and supportive social networks can counteract some of the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s). Accomplishing new challenges in a group requires teamwork and trust between yourself and others. In a wilderness setting, attaining the goals of every trip will require group input and cooperation. This develops good communication skills and the ability to operate within a social system.
Spiritual
The most important aspect to spiritual healing is the connection with the Creator. This starts with knowing who the Creator is and His creation that surrounds us. This is accomplished through personal reflection, study, and group discussion.
