The curriculum includes leadership, environmental instruction, primitive camping skills, mountaineering, topographic map reading, wilderness navigation, medical training to include basic first-aid and CPR, physical endurance, muscular development, and daily therapeutic counseling.
Upon completion, a student receives a total of 2.0 academic credits for Environmental Science, Mental/Social Health, and Introductory Outdoor Education, and a certificate of completion of volunteer service work in the Chattahoochee National Forest.
Over half of the student’s time is spent in the Chattahoochee National Forest of the Blue Ridge Mountains which surrounds the Ridge Creek Wilderness campus. When not in the field, the students live in a wilderness shelter with an open sleeping bay and buck stove. Students use the outdoor sanitary privy and have storage for personal items. Ridge Creek recognizes that sleep and personal hygiene are critical to maintaining your child’s health. Therefore, your child will receive 8 hours of sleep per night. They will take 4-5 showers per week and do their laundry once per week.
When your child arrives at Ridge Creek Wilderness, we ask that they arrive with only the clothes on their back. Ridge Creek Wilderness provides everything from toothbrush to socks and shoes, from shampoo to backpacks. Anything that your child brings will be bagged and locked away for the duration of the program. We encourage you to keep things simple and not pack a thing!
Cost of the Program
Ridge Creek Wilderness is a short-term to moderate length program depending on the needs of the child. The cost for the initial four weeks includes group, individual, and family counseling as well as all new gear which the student takes with him when they leave. Students may extend to continue their therapeutic and academic work until it is time for them to return home or to go to their next placement.
RATES:
- Initial four weeks $8,150.00
- Wilderness Gear $800.00 (optional)
- Wilderness Rental Gear (optional)
- Psychological Testing $3,000.00 (optional)