I often wonder what it must be like coming "home" when you have been working on getting to know yourself for 22+ months in a highly structured environment??
Having worked at both a Wilderness Therapy Program and an Emotional Growth Boarding school I have wondered what life must be like from "student's eyes". While I am able to realte to those I teach (e.g., I grew up in a dysfunctional family, had low self esteem as an adolescent and used violence/drugs to cope with my feelings), I still had/have a life full of my own decision-making opportunities and personal freedoms. To me, no matter how we "set-up" a therapeutic learning environment when working with our children I think we still are potentially caught in the pitfall of creating an unauthentic learning envionrnment.
So the question is - what does it take? What does it take to succeed after being in programs for 20+ months? Is it possible to create a program which can ease the reality of the transition between residential and home life? Statistics show that it is difficult after being in treatment for an extended period of time to succeed. What are your thoughts on this?
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