by Thecla Helmbrecht
Howard, Ph.D. and Anthony H. Howard, M.S.
The staff at Kamp Kessa, an adventure education and treatment program
utilizing horses and the wilderness for youth who are considered at-risk
and who have special needs in Frankfort, Kentucky, are often asked, “Why
do you use horses?” and “Why do you emphasize youth being
in natural settings?” Often the questioner will consider young
people having such access as a privilege that should be either awarded
or withdrawn according to the perceived appropriateness of their recent
behaviors. After all isn’t getting to ride a horse a privilege
that is a great “reinforcer” that should be rightfully
earned? Here’s the short version of our answer:
Studies have shown that increasing numbers of American children and
youth are at risk of serious impediments to growing into healthy adults.
Health issues, alcohol, drugs, inadequate networks of support and more
are all challenges to their health and welfare. To appreciate the truth
of these impediments does not require that statistics about drugs,
violence, and teenage pregnancy be rattled off. All that is really
needed is for concerned adults to watch how many children learn at
a tender age not to be tender — and how many young people in
America today have come to assume that being successful means looking
out for “number one.” Structured mentoring of youth — in
a wilderness challenge environment — has proven to significantly
impact in positive ways some if not all of these struggles. Educators
and therapists have been using wilderness challenges in therapeutic
programs for troubled youth for decades.
The Wellness of Nature
Why has the process of building relationships with animals and the
wilderness been demonstrated to be so consistently therapeutic for
young people? Consider it this way, the most common characteristic
of children and youth who are at risk or who have special needs in
America today is that they have troubled connections with troubled
systems (e.g., troubled schools, troubled families, troubled and overwhelmed
mental health and juvenile justice systems, etc.). When children and
youth are given the opportunity to connect into the wellness of nature,
whether that takes the form of a meaningful relationship with a horse
or a connection with the majesty of a hardwood forest (or endless other
possibilities), they become involved in a system that is already well.
Stated another way, the nature of wellness can readily be discovered
and connected with, within the wellness inherent in the natural world.
We can all find sources of strength and renewal of spirit in the earth
and the cycles of nature. The processes of birth, growth, death, decay,
and regeneration that occur in the seasons, the plants and animals,
and the soil, are models for our growth and for human community.
Supporting Natural Growth and Healing
The question concerning children and youth at risk is not whether
we want to help them grow and flourish as human beings in ways that
honor their natures — of course we do. The real question is how
do we propose to accomplish that? Our answer to that question is relatively
simple and straightforward: Find ways to connect young people into
the wellness of the natural world while simultaneously identifying
and explicitly teaching the healthy values and life-affirming principles
that are to be readily found there. For instance, a meaningful relationship
with a horse by the very nature of the relationship “naturally” teaches
responsibility (through the need for meeting the basic needs of the
horse); caring (through the love and caring that develops between horse
and rider); respect (through the inevitable acknowledgment that the
horse has a mind of his or her own); and honesty (since we can’t
long portray ourselves as better than we are in our abilities and skills
before our personal safety becomes an issue). It is no accident that
the values found and naturally acquired through a meaningful connection
with a horse also reflect the values mindfully and traditionally embraced
by the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts of the USA, 4-H, and the YMCA/YWCA.
As traditions of Native American wisdom have long observed, the true
nature of growth and healing can only be discovered and discerned by
maintaining a meaningful connection with the natural world.
Valuing the Natural World
All educational, therapeutic, and vocational programs teach what
is to be valued — whether or not they have adopted a specific
program to that end. The rules (and who makes them), the programs,
the culture, and climate — all send messages about what matters
(even if they are sent in unintentional ways and received unconsciously).
There is no such thing as a value-free system. At Kamp Kessa, to support
our youth in the healthiest sense means providing for them the opportunity
to connect into the wellness of the natural world while focusing on
teaching that clearly identifies and is explicitly designed to teach
values related to personal, family, community, and earthly wellness.
As the natural world so vividly teaches us, none of these are separate
issues. Some call what we are doing character education, some call
it adventure education, some call it outdoor experiential education,
we call it using horses and the wilderness to teach the power of big
ideas and the truth of larger purposes. This is the essence of why
we use horses, and why we have made it our life’s work to provide
at-risk and special needs youth the opportunity to develop therapeutic
relationships with horses in natural settings. To us, what we are attempting
to do is certainly not about providing “reinforcement for appropriate
behaviors,” or alternative recreational opportunities. We are
attempting to provide to children and youth who are surrounded by an
increasingly industrialized and chaotic world, access to nature’s
path to personal re-creation.
 |
Originally published
in the 2004 March/April issue of Camping Magazine. |
