By Grant Helmus, Field Manager
At Pacific Quest wilderness therapy program, we strive to serve all our students as unique individuals. We understand that they are here for a variety of reasons and we strive to work with them all differently. Pacific Quest is an outdoor therapy program using a Sustainable Growth™ treatment model as a platform for innovative therapy and life skills development.
During their stay at Pacific Quest, students practice healthy outlets for their emotions and find comfort in new experiences. Some students enjoy working in the nursery planting seeds, others prefer transplanting, or harvesting. There is also exercising, meditating, writing in their journal, cooking or just spending time outside watering the garden and checking for ripe pineapples. Whatever the activity is, Pacific Quest offers a safe environment that values sustainable living, teamwork, and personal responsibility. This allows students to regain focus, develop skills and start making positive choices in their lives.
Our staff are all unique individuals who bring different passions, skills, knowledge and experience to the program. They are role models, teachers, life coaches and mentors for our students. Every person within our program is unique, but we have all felt the same emotions and had similar experiences throughout life, which allows us to relate to one another. The program focuses on another common bond and that is our connection to the land. When we work together to grow our food, eat and live healthy, it brings us closer to the ultimate bond of being human, needing to take care of our bodies, minds and live in harmony with the environment.
Our ultimate goal is to help everyone help themselves. It is the small seeds that we plant in the gardens and the small ideas we plant in the students that will grow and flourish. This positive inspiration will spread to friends, families, communities and create a better place for us all to share.