A Glimpse Into The Process: Clients Finding Truth For Themselves
While facilitating family intensives at Evoke Therapy Programs, I ask each family member what they would like to gain from the 4-day workshop. They almost always say the same thing. They want to walk away with tools for a new way of communicating. While I know that not all of our relationship problems can be solved with communication tools, I find that there are some simple skills, which, if followed, begin to change the way we think and relate to others.
Group One at Evoke's Wilderness Program in Central Oregon is at it again. Another adventure outing. This time we went rock climbing at Smith Rock State Park.
During my son’s time in Wilderness Therapy, my wife and I were asked to come for a day visit. The goal was nebulous, but I assumed it was simply to have some time to connect and to possibly provide his therapist with some information for future family therapy work. We made our trip out to the field area—only getting lost twice—and finally arrived at the boy's group. Our reunion was tender and tearful. The simple way we used to describe the therapy to our youngest child, Isabella, was that Jake “was in the mountains, learning how to be happy.” It had been 8 weeks since we had last seen Jake, and after hugs and greetings, we sat down to learn about how and what he was doing. Although I had served hundreds of families as a Wilderness Therapist, I had never quite experienced the kind of joy I felt from seeing all this new growth and insight in my son.
There exists a perpetual tug-o-war amongst our clients’ perceptions of The Oasis. There are those who love the extra creature comforts like hot showers, less hiking, time to practice yoga or cooking. Contrarily, there are those who detest “sitting around” and would much prefer doing over being any day. Even staff, especially during the first few months of operating the Oasis, asked why we’ve created it and is it necessary.
Evoke Therapy Programs is pleased to announce Evoke at Entrada has received its Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Accreditation from the Association of Experiential Education (AEE). As a member of the Outdoor Behavior Healthcare (OBH) Council, Evoke at Entrada has made a commitment to uphold the OBH Mission, Ethical Standards and Best Practices. This also includes contributing to the collective research of OBH members making up the OBH Research Center, and being OBH Accredited.
The weather is starting to change across the country, and we are seeing some seasonal vegetables here at Entrada. Seasonal favorites broccoli and cauliflower are being sent out with the standard bell peppers, onions, garlic, shallots, and zucchini. Mangos have also been in season, so those have been sent out a few times this past month, along with the standard apples, oranges, and bananas.
Local farmers are starting to bring in late summer/early fall crops, and my bee keeping neighbor gave me 40 pounds of organic red onions. As that’s more onions that I can handle, so I decided to bring them to Entrada to share with the groups. These were harvested about a mile from base, in Santa Clara.
One of Evoke’s founding principles is to, “Continually be a transformative program and company.” This, in part, means we are committed to the health of our employees, organization, and our communities. We believe it’s our responsibility to make efforts to better the health of our local, regional and global communities. At Evoke we do this through a variety of means, including how we spend and donate our money and time as well as providing other acts of service.
Deciding to send your child to a wilderness program can be an incredibly difficult decision. Figuring out how to get your child to that program can further the difficulty, as the process can be complicated and heart wrenching. Many parents chose to hire a transport service to help navigate this process, though it is often a hard and conflicted choice.