By Mike Sullivan, Alumni & Family Services Director
I recently presented at the Rocky Mountain Regional NATSAP conference in Whitefish, Montana. Before I continue, I will have to profess that this was one of the most beautiful settings for a conference – situated in a lush mountain valley near the entrance to Glacier National Park. Further, the conference drew many attendees from therapeutic programs scattered throughout Northern Idaho and Montana, lending to an intimate and rich networking event. The seminars were stellar and I hope to return to this conference again next year.
Mike Sullivan, MA, LMHC
The conference specifically targeted the theme of “addressing family systems work,” which especially piqued my interest due to my career focus in family therapy and parent involvement in the treatment process. I chose to present on experiential techniques for promoting a “rite of passage” experience for families, wherein, the family collaborates in deepening awareness into maladaptive patterns and ruts that they wish to sever from, and works together to set goals and intentions of positive characteristics and communication styles they want to work toward. I opened the presentation by defining aspects of a rite of passage. I then shared a case vignette, and highlighted a particular families’ process engaging in family therapy and an actual garden ceremony. The presentation concluded with the audience breaking into small groups where I assigned them to brainstorm experiential approaches that they utilize to engage families in ROP type experiences, and report back to the group at large with ideas generated. It ended up being a neat combination of networking and idea sharing across models, allowing each professional to walk away with applicable tools.
I have always been intrigued with the role a rite of passage can play on a family systems level. Outdoor therapy provides a seemingly paradoxical model. The identified patient (adolescent or young adult) is sent thousands of miles from home, isolated from access to family. The child’s parents describe the deterioration of communication, care, and respect within the family, and trust that the outdoor model will enhance family relationships. Some would question how effective this model can be; that sequestering a child in the woods can’t possibly address the complexity of the family system. So therein lay the paradox – how does the outdoor program address the family system, with members of the family spread out across the country?
Outdoor programs nationwide have invested significant resources in bolstering family treatment, recognizing that individual treatment gains quickly diminish if the primary caregivers aren’t growing alongside their child. Outdoor therapy, when applied correctly, leverages the geographical distance to first foster individual growth and then reunite the family in an intentional manner to facilitate growth needed to sustain therapeutic gains.
As the NATSAP outcome study gains momentum and the sample size continues to grow, quantitative data supports claims that family systems benefit from outdoor therapy. The Family Assessment Device, a trusted measure developed to identify problem areas in family functioning (Epstein, et. al, 1983), has demonstrated that families engaging in outdoor therapy make clinically significant progress. This is remarkable and leads to the question – what factors contribute to that success? Having worked in outdoor therapy for 10+ years, I have observed the power of engaging families in a rite of passage experience.
A traditional “rite of passage” entails a ceremony, clearly marking the transition from one life stage to another. Individuals identify “severance,” or an “old story” that they wish to leave behind. This includes limiting self-beliefs and maladaptive behaviors. The individual then focuses on cultivating the best version of themselves, their “new story,” or “intention.” The process of identifying “severance” and “intention” increases insight and allows for specific goals to emerge. Individual growth is critical, and this same phenomenon can be applied on a family level. Families collaborating in identifying maladaptive family patterns informs the process of family “severance,” and working together to name a shared vision of how the family strives to function creates a family “intention.”
Types of family “rite of passage” experiences may vary. Valuable approaches include exploring themes of severance and intention in a family therapy context, followed with a ceremony to mark the transition. The ceremony may be creating an art project, hiking a mountain, or overhauling an overgrown garden bed and planting seeds. Many approaches exist. The activity itself is not important per se, but the meaning assigned to it. The family should collaborate in identifying what the actual rite is, and assign meaning within a guided context. The process of guiding a family rite of passage is extremely powerful and programs would benefit from continued dialog about family interventions to use in the short duration of outdoor therapy journey.