Recently, I travelled to Vermont to attend a close friend’s graduation from the True North Wilderness Program. The twelve-week program, which focuses on educating adolescents and young adults, works to improve its student’s social, emotional, and other developmental skills to help them move toward a successful, independent future.
This friend of mine, whom I’ve known almost my entire life, and whom we will call Johnson, was struggling with several aspects in his life. Alcoholism, drug abuse, severe depression and several instances of socially and emotionally severing himself from his friends and family all dug their nails into Johnson’s skin and held him in limbo. A few years went by and despite the constant and varied attempts by his parents and therapists to pull Johnson back to the surface, little had changed. Johnson’s spiral continued downward. The more time that passed, the less it looked like that would change.
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There was a dim glint of light when Johnson first heard of True North and for the first time in a long time, he was genuinely enthusiastic toward the possibility of a step forward in his life.
I visited Johnson about a week ago at his graduation with no idea what to expect. When I first saw him, it hit me exactly what the True North Wilderness Program was about: Using the wilderness—the actual, deep woods wilderness—to teach life skills to the campers. Johnson’s hair was long, put up into a man bun, darkened with grease, and his clothes looked like he had been wearing them for three weeks—which is a compliment, because he had worn them for almost six.
He embraced me, gleaming with sweat and what I can only define as pure happiness. He smiled and all of the turmoil and frustration that I had begun to associate with his being over the years was gone. He wasn’t recognizable. He was at peace with himself and, seemingly, everyone and everything around him. He welcomed me and brought me into the middle of the field where his fellow campers were waiting. As he approached, the campers formed a circle to begin his graduation.
Johnson, and his fellow graduate Ben, walked us through the skills they learned during their twelve weeks in the wilderness. From building fires, to setting traps, the two performed each skill and explained the steps to each. The survival skills were impressive, but the impact these two had on the other campers was far more so.
The students, all of whom were slightly younger than Johnson, went around and discussed how he had impacted them as individuals and as a group. The confrontational guy I knew was, to all of these younger campers, a leader, and an inspiration and everything they wanted to be by the end of their respective twelve weeks.
After the ceremony, Johnson discussed his daily routines and time in the woods of Vermont. Out of all of the activities, including a twelve mile hike through a storm, the one that stands out the most was his 48-hour period alone in the depths of the forest. While Johnson did spend most his time tutoring adolescents and working in the group, the counselors required him to be completely isolated to hone his skills and illustrate the importance of independence. There was one rule regarding his time alone: He couldn’t bring anything except the clothes on his back.
Johnson, however, broke this rule and snuck a paperback copy of Ender’s Game. The book was initially meant to pass the time, but instead re-sparked his interest in the Sci-fi genre of books and literature in general. He spent his days alone building fires, collecting food, and reading.
Johnson now lives in Colorado, in a home meant to guide him through the next step of independent living. He will be there between six months to a year. He’s signed up for his first semester of college courses since he dropped out in 2014 and is steadily moving forward.
Not experiencing the program for myself, and only seeing the results, I can say that the non-traditional nature of this nature-centric program has the potential to completely change an individual’s life where traditional therapy was less-than effective.
I can’t begin to express just how amazing a time Johnson had at True North and I can’t even begin to express how life changing his time must have been, but I speak for myself, his family and friends, and most importantly, Johnson himself when I say I’m proud of Johnson and how far he’s come.
