The WinGate program: Ages 13-18

Teenagers still living at home seek independence even though they don’t always know how to achieve it in constructive and healthy ways. Enforcing boundaries can become next to impossible for parents of troubled teens. Some parents try, relentlessly, to regain some sense of control over their teenager who is becoming ever-increasingly out of control. Lecturing—“do as I say, not as I do”— fails miserably. Anger creates anger in response. Pleading, cajoling or bribing only seem to make matters worse. The overall and inevitable outcomes of such confrontations are hostility, tension, and more defiance.

At WinGate Wilderness Therapy, students gain the ability to achieve desired outcomes in healthy ways, learn from their mistakes, and understand the natural consequences of their behavior—both positive and negative. In a surprisingly short amount of time, they begin to understand how their past behaviors and attitudes have held them back. This, in turn, provides the motivation needed to get them moving forward in their own personal process and continue in the right direction long after they’ve graduated from our program.