Into the Wild and Finding Funding
Wilderness programs are held outdoors in a structured environment that allows for therapeutic insight and learning. Everyday activities like hiking, cooking food and gathering wood help students gain awareness of themselves and their interactions with others. They’re separated from family, friends, phones and other outside triggers that may interfere with treatment. Programs are expensive and often cost $30,000 to $50,000 for a three-month stay. Getting insurance companies to pay is a difficult and time-consuming process.
As a single mom, Willis applied for and received some financial aid through Blue Ridge plus assistance from local scholarship groups. But the cost wasn’t fully covered. And she now had to consider how to pay for care following the wilderness program. (Kids often continue care after a three-month wilderness program by transitioning to a therapeutic boarding school or young adult program. Those programs can cost $12,000 a month.)
Willis is currently battling her insurance company to cover her son's treatment. She said she believes the company should be held responsible since her son has a medical diagnosis. Willis added that appealing to insurance companies can take more than a year and often end in only a portion being covered.
“I'm on the phone constantly, spending the equivalent of a part-time job trying to figure out what to do to afford further treatment, calling about after-care and meeting with a financial advisor about selling my house to pay for the next care,” said Willis. “It’s really emotionally overwhelming.”
As Willis and I were talking, her phone continued to ding with incoming calls and texts related to her son's care. She was waiting on a call from Blue Ridge.
Speaking Out and Self-Care
Despite her busy schedule with work and finding ways to pay for her son’s treatment, Willis was happy to share her story. She feels strongly that more needs to be done in the youth mental health industry including educating therapists on programs like wilderness and therapeutic boarding schools. She said her son's therapist never mentioned those as an option. She also believes the school failed her son by not testing him for learning issues and said early intervention could have reduced his mental health issues, especially during Covid.
“I think that mental health is very underserved,” she said. “I think if your child has cancer or diabetes or heart disease, there’s more access to support. Mental illness is invisible to the eye so I think that we do need to talk about it more so that people understand it more.”
Willis also believes in self-care to handle what’s been a very stressful period. She uses journaling, meditation, mindfulness and prayer. A small area in her den is set up as a meditation area with pillows, books, candles and her son’s Bible. There’s also a photo of her son taken at wilderness therapy.
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