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Assumptions Underlying the Approach
 

• self reflection, self responsibility and self reliance are essential prerequisites for students to be successful in the alternative education environment.
• students will gain the above attitudes from their direct participation in challenging activities that require personal commitment, positive motivation and the tension of new situations.
• experiential learning is about natural learning - the learning that comes when a person   interacts with their environment.  Institutional learning is the imposition of outcomes, values and reason into information about, and an explanation of this interaction.
• challenging activities by themselves are opportunities for recreation and fun.  Challenging   activities that are placed within a pre-articulated therapeutic framework are valuable tools for creating a catalyst for attitudinal change.
• teamwork and group activities work well when students see that they have a problem.  For students unable to recognize this individualized experiences are relevant.
• challenge is not a reward or a punishment, it is a mirror to our attitudes and coping skills.
• alternative education is fundamentally about providing possibilities by which learning can occur.  Challenging activities enhance the range of possibilities that can be explored.

Essential components:
 

• 7 - 10 day wilderness experience 
• Journal/photos/student reports
• Parent meetings 
• Follow up activities (1 -2 days)
• Peer/teacher activity day (rappelling) 
• Full-time therapeutic adventure staff position

Students on referral to the REAL School will be informed that a 7-10 day  wilderness experience, with a extensive follow-up component, is an essential part of the overall program at the school.  Parents and students will be given an extensive information package about the wilderness enhanced program including a full itinerary and permission note.  The commitment of parents to attend a parent meeting while the students are on the wilderness experience and soon after the students return will also be encouraged.

New students will follow the normal intake procedure including a number of trial days before beginning their 30 day introduction to the school.  Within this 30 day period the student will be involved in a 7 -10 day wilderness experience.  This will include 8 - 10 students ranging from grades 7 to 10, and at least 3 staff members.  Throughout the wilderness experience students are impelled by the pressures of survival and the consequences of the natural environment to take responsibility for their behavior, to make decisions from which the consequences are real and often immediate, and to see themselves as they really are - stripped of their ‘other world’ facades. 

While the students are involved in the wilderness experience a parent meeting will be organized to create with parents an awareness of the possibilities available through the experience.  This also provides a chance to develop a supportive interaction between parents and the school.

Following the wilderness experience a journal, consisting of a chronicle of the wilderness experience and photos, will be completed and presented to the students.  Parents will also be involved in a further meeting to get information on events from the wilderness experience and continue the dialogue on cooperatively working with the school to address the needs of the student.  A report on each student will also be written or presented to staff to enable all staff access to information about what happened on the wilderness experience. 

Also, part of the immediate follow-up to the wilderness experience, the students involved will have the opportunity to invite a class peer and a staff member to participate in a rappelling afternoon. 

Follow-up will continue as staff maintain an ongoing conversation with students that reflects a sensitivity and awareness to the process of self reflection and change initiated by the wilderness experience.  Further follow-up activities will also be organized on an individual or small group basis over 1-2 days.  Activities can include sea kayaking, cross-country skiing, rockclimbing, rappelling, mountain-biking, snow-snowing, canoeing, hiking.  These will be designed with the intention of providing additional support to students as they struggle to integrate changes in attitude into real changes in behavior.

While students will miss work from the academic program, as they participate in these activities, they will be expected to only catch-up and complete work needed to develop a prerequisite skill for future work.  Therefore, deadlines and individual programs will need to be modified to allow students reasonable time to complete the required work.

It is anticipated that 3-4 extended wilderness experiences (7 - 10 days) will take place each year.  These additional programs will include a mix of new intake students and students experiencing ongoing attitudinal problems as they engage in the learning programs at the school.  Students will only participate in one extended wilderness experience while at the REAL School.