Parent Choices For Struggling Teens

Travis Slagle, traavis@PacificQuest.org, Land Supervisor and Katie Kasenchak, drkatie@PacificQuest.org Therapist, both at Pacific Quest in Hawaii, 808-937-5806 www.PacificQuest.org., an outdoor behavioral health program using the concept of Sustainable Growth (TM), developed by Pacific Quest, and Horticultural Therapy in healing young people with problems. Travis and Katie described how healing can occur using gardening as a focused activity to help children learn mindfulness, improve executive functioning, and becoming a part of a community and giving back to the community. They described how they use wilderness therapy concepts in removing young people from society's distraction and getting back in touch with nature, but modify the traditional wilderness therapy approach by using gardening in working with nature instead of the traditional approach they see as conquering and overcoming nature. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Ar