WHO WE ARE
Our Mission
New Vision Wilderness (NVW) sets industry standards in therapeutic outdoor programming. NVW empowers the individual to improve decision-making skills and build healthier relationships. NVW works with the individual and the family, providing an unparalleled wilderness experience while adhering to the highest standards of safety and individual attention.
The emotional and physical safety of students is the most important factor to our staff at New Vision Wilderness
Emotional Safety
At the national level there are wilderness programs that have distorted the reputation of wilderness based intervention. NVW does not support a boot camp or break them down philosophy.
We offer a "build them up" philosophy focusing on their strengths and encouraging growth in those areas. We utilize both adventure education and psychotherapy to create the change in students and do not solely rely on a physical challenge regimen as the catalyst for positive change. NVW deemphasizes the behavioral level system, favoring instead, a relational focused treatment plan.
Comfort Zone Expansion
NVW also does not support a shock approach for creating change. Participants that are shocked are more difficult to reach in the psychotherapy process due to the rise in defense mechanisms. We slowly expand upon each students individual emotional tolerance. Our program model includes pre-workshop days designed to gradually introduce students to the wilderness setting. This includes introductions to equipment, the elements, and our staff in an effort to work students into the therapeutic system we offer over time.
Safety Comes First
NVW takes both physical and emotional safety seriously and enforces strict guidelines to protect our students. We require that Wilderness First Responder staff are present and available in the field while students are present. In addition, our Trauma Informed Care model provides clinical trauma training to the entire staff to effectively manage stress in the field. (learn more on Trauma Informed Care)
Other safety measures include:
- Intensive intake and screening process
- Pre- and post-program client reviews
- Single sex programming and individual client tents
- Staff communication via high-powered communication radios
- Community connection via multiple cell phone access sites
- Emergency transportation via access to an All-Terrain Vehicle and Snowmobile