What’s Life Like at Aspen Achievement Academy?

Teens at Aspen will spend 7 weeks living in the glorious natural environments of southern Utah, sleeping in shelters they construct themselves. Days are filled with challenging outdoor activities, experiential academics and therapies and more formal individual and group therapy sessions. Few outdoor adventure programs match the therapeutic intensity of the Aspen Achievement Academy experience; at the Academy, clinical therapists as well as field guides live and work with students in the wild.

7 weeks at the Academy can transform an angry and rebellious teen into someone who has grown into a greater sense of self worth, more aware of what she is capable of and with real hope for the future.

What Kind of Teen is Right for Aspen Achievement Academy?

The academy has been helping teens progress through a stages of growth model of therapeutic change for more than 20 years. With small groups, intensive therapeutics and decades of clinical experience, we can help teens displaying one or more of the following:

• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Problems with authority
• Academic underachievement
• Depression
• Oppositional or confrontational behaviors
• Manipulative behaviors
• Entitlement behaviors
• Low self confidence or a lack of self esteem
• Low motivation

The Therapeutic Program

Students at Aspen will progress through a 4 stage therapeutic journey that combines experiential learning, traditional therapies and therapies that encourage the cognitive processing of lessons learned; reaching towards a new and healthier understanding of life, family and future, by program completion.

The program was designed for treatment resistant teens, who benefit greatly when taken out of their comfortable home environment, and forced to use lessons of therapy in a real life context.

Each teen will receive a comprehensive intake evaluation, and will be assigned to an existing group on the basis of that evaluation – assigned to a group of teens facing similar challenges. Each group consists of medical personnel, a therapist, field counselors and teachers, as well as other students.

The Academy maintains an open enrollment policy, which means that teens entering into the program will join other teens at varying stages of program completion. Students with more time in the program serve as mentors for newer arrivals, and since these teens have more likely accepted the value and worth of the experience, they model this acceptance of the process to newer arrivals. 

Students will progress through 4 phases by program completion.

• Phase 1 – the mouse phase. During this initial 4 day phase, students lean to deal with their anger and accept that they were placed in the Aspen program because they are loved and cared for. During this initial stage, students learn group rules and responsibilities and learn basic wilderness skills.

• Phase 2 – the coyote phase. During the second phase, students learn to care for themselves and develop good character, even in the face of trying circumstances. Students in the coyote phase will participate in all group and individual therapies, help out with group chores and tasks and work on interpersonal skills with other members of the group.

• Phase 3 – the buffalo phase. During this third phase, students move beyond taking care of themselves and look towards caring for the needs of the group. This stage encourages cooperation, teamwork and good communication. Students in this phase will begin to mentor newly arriving students and continue to practice interpersonal skills. Buffalo phase students begin to take on more of a leadership role, through greater involvement in group therapy sessions and by teaching wilderness skills to newer arrivals.

• Phase 4 – the eagle phase. Students in this last phase take on a significant leadership role in the group, and are honored for their growth through meaningful rites of passage. Students in this last phase display honesty and truthfulness, give constructive criticism, as well as receive it, complete tasks responsibly and organize daily activities.

The Academic Program

Aspen Achievement Academy integrates a wilderness adventure experience, the therapeutic program and academic growth into a seamless outdoor based curriculum.

As a Utah licensed outdoor program, students at the academy will earn transferable academic credit during their stay.

Academics at the Academy are experiential and based on the meaningful observations and experiences of time spent in greatly varying natural environments. Physical sciences studies are enhanced when students can observe the changes in geology and biology while travelling through different eco-systems, and understanding weather systems becomes more relevant when evaluating a changing sky and wondering when to break and set up camp!

All students will complete 15 educational workbooks, based on an experiential academic understanding on the natural environment, before program graduation.

Aspen Achievement Academy is Recognized as One of the Country’s Finest Adolescent Treatment Centers

The Washington DC based research institute, Drug Strategies, has recommended Aspen Achievement Academy as one of the country’s top adolescent treatment centers, recommending Aspen Achievement Academy as one of only 3 wilderness schools to earn their endorsement.

The Aspen Achievement Academy has been helping troubled teens since 1989 and is JCAHO accredited as an adolescent wilderness program, a member of NATSAP and licensed by the state of Utah as an outdoor treatment program.

As a member treatment center of the CRC Health Group, The Aspen Achievement Academy is a member of America’s largest behavioral health treatment organization and benefits from over 30 years of treatment excellence and experience.

Financing

The typical length of stay at Aspen Achievement Academy ranges from 35 days to an average length of stay of 49 days (7 weeks).

Aspen Achievement Academy works with Shauna Clark Loans to offer financing to the many parents who would prefer to defer the tuition payment over very manageable car payment sized monthly installments. Shauna Clark can confirm approval within 24 to 48 hours.