From Reform to Ruin: Investigating the Troubled Teen Industry

The grim reality behind wilderness therapy.

Since the early 1960s, the troubled teen industry’s wilderness therapy camps have thrived amongst varying communities, despite constant criticism, lawsuits, and serious allegations of child abuse. Wilderness therapy camps have a long history of leaving their unwilling participants damaged beyond their original state, yet remain open with flourishing business. Worth billions of dollars, the troubled teen industry profits off abusing teens and exploiting their mental illnesses. 

The average experience of a wilderness camp attendee begins with legal kidnapping. Most survivors claim to have been gooned in the middle of the night, woken by a group of adult men demanding them to get out of bed and follow them outside the home to an unfamiliar vehicle. Showing any type of resistance will earn the teen a violent experience, in which they are forcefully removed from their homes and tied down inside the transport vehicle.

“Your parents are nowhere to be found,” says survivor and activist, who goes by Walt Brewer. “It is very traumatizing.” Following their kidnapping, teens are driven to their new home for the next few months, to a few years: a wilderness camp, usually miles away in the middle of nowhere in states such as Nevada, Utah, or Montana. 

Upon arrival, teens are typically ordered to fully unclothe prior to an unnecessarily intrusive full-body search, in which everything is taken from them. A prevalent method used by workers or “counselors” –who need almost no credentials to work in children’s rehabilitation– is dehumanizing their campers as means of “therapy.” Watching campers change, use the restroom, and clean themselves are part of standard practice. This routine is required throughout their entire stay, which may originally only be a couple months, but often becomes years as parents are continually convinced that their kids aren’t entirely “fixed” and must pour more money into the betterment of their child’s mental health.  

The laborious and physically demanding aspects of campers’ daily routines are considered the core therapeutic methods used by the troubled teen industry. Beginning with a full deconstruction of the previous day’s campsite, residents must wake up ready to hike for as much as 10 hours in a single day. Because a majority of these camps are in desert-like areas, these teens are expected to hike in the most dangerous conditions. Extreme heat, disorienting terrain, and utter exhaustion plague the supposedly therapeutic experience campers are made to expect. In the winter, teens face different circumstances: hypothermia, hunger, icy slopes, and of course, exhaustion.

“I remember that all of the kids were in the beginning stages of hypothermia pretty much constantly,” says Activist for Unsilenced, who refers to themselves on social media as @trailseasoning. 

On top of these conditions, campers must carry all of their belongings in a single, sizable backpack for the entirety of their hikes. Of the hundreds of kids and teens who have died while enrolled in wilderness therapy programs, many of these deaths have been due to heat stroke and/or heat exhaustion: an almost inevitable fate when expecting children and teenagers to hike for 10 hours with 80-120 pounds on their backs in 100 degree weather. Many are forced to climb mountain ranges without proper safety gear (if any at all). When campers are left with severe injuries–broken bones, concussions, etc—they often receive little to no medical care.

A group of teens setting down some of their things, hiking through remote areas of New York (Photograph: Kenneth R. Rosen/New York Times)

Despite the stigma that teens are sent to wilderness therapy camps for being in legal trouble or committing crimes, a majority of parents send their children away out of concern for their mental health, or even for minor behavioral issues, such as playing too many videogames or staying up too late. This choice is likely as most parents are unaware of the reality of wilderness therapy, often being coerced and/or pressured into sending their child away. “My parents didn’t know anything about the program besides that it was recommended by a nationally known psychologist,” Brewer said. “He told my parents ‘your kid will kill himself if he doesn’t go to this program.’”

The environment of wilderness therapy cultivates trauma in other forms as well, including the abusive behavior of counselors. Many survivors claimed to have experienced sexual, physical, and verbal abuse at the hands of the counselors meant to help them on their road to recovery. Brewer recalls the time he walked away from an argument with a counselor, in which he was tackled and held to the floor, causing him to choke and vomit. “They almost found enjoyment in that, to the point where I had almost passed out.” 

Amongst the many that claim to have suffered severe PTSD and trauma due their experience at wilderness therapy camps, there are few who insist to have not only grown emotionally from the experience, but also enjoyed their time there. Of course, it’s important to note that not all wilderness therapy camps involve inflicting trauma and abuse.

Upon learning about wilderness therapy camps and the troubled teen industry, people are often confused as to why parents don’t know they should pull their kids out of these programs. Through edited letters and forced photos, parents are made to think that their child is happy, joyful, and in recovery. Throughout their stay, campers are often forced to pose happily for weekly pictures that are then sent to their parents. If a student refuses to smile, or attempts to show any signs that they are in pain, they will be punished and/or threatened with longer time at the camp. 

Kyra Frankowski, sent to wilderness camp at 14, is told to smile for a picture (Photograph: USA Today)

Punishments for bad behavior or resistance consist of forced isolation, being tied to another camper/staff for weeks (sometimes even months), being silenced for similarly lengthy amounts of time, extreme manual labor, and being denied food. Amongst the plethora of deaths, hundreds are caused by physical abuse in the form of punishment or restraint. Unsilenced has a list of known deaths caused by the troubled teen industry: https://www.unsilenced.org/facility-deaths/ 

Following their experiences at wilderness therapy camps, many seek to take legal action, but struggle with the weight of reliving their trauma. Unsilenced is a non-profit organization whose mission is to stop the abuse of wilderness therapy camps through the empowerment of survivors’ voices and stories. Both Walt Brewer and @trail.seasoning are activists working for Unsilenced, using their social media platforms to spread awareness and call attention to their cause. 

So what are the best ways to help support their cause? @trail.seasoning says to “contact your senators and tell them to support SICAA–the stop institutional child abuse act…and volunteer or donate if you can.”