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Every month, a
small group of committed boys and families gather for the year-long
empowerment and mentoring group. We use adventure education and
activities like mountain biking, rock climbing, river rafting,
survival skills, drumming, bowling, pool playing, pow-wows,
waterskiing, caving, snowshoeing, snow sledding, bon-fires, capture
the flag games, lock-outs, movie and game night and …
On top of the
adventures, we teach the boys life-skills through self-empowerment
models, experiential activities, inspiring books/movies and hands-on
personal development teachings.
Most of the
time, the boys are having fun while they are learning about peer
issues such as drug-alcohol-tobacco use/abuse, family dynamics,
effective communications, goal setting, girls-sex-relationships,
personality differences, violence and a variety of other issues that
arise.
Since we use
the natural setting to work with the adventure education and
wilderness therapy model, the boys are engaged and proactive in
their group dynamics and learn in very effective ways … how to be
more responsible and respectful.
We have used
the 7 Habits of Highly Effective teens, The Wonder of Boys, The 4
Agreements, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, The Alchemist, Hatchet,
Life Strategies for Teens as our teaching books.
All 3 Boys
Empowerment Groups, the WILD Boys ~ COYOTE Boys and BOYS in the
FIRE, meet twice a month. Once for an all-day adventure outing and
parents pow-wow and once for an evening Movie - Game - Activity
night. All groups conclude their year with an ALIVE ADVENTURE
camp.
ONE–on–ONE Active Coaching Program The One-on-One
Active Coaching program works hand in hand with the family to assist
in the successful developmental stages of our boy’s personal growth.
How does it
work … Weekly or Bi-monthly, we pick up your son from school or from
your home and we head out to some activity. Then sometime during the
activity, there comes a “time to share” followed by “teachable
moments”. It is during this time that the counseling / mentoring /
coaching takes charge and your son is open and willing to engage.
This happens because your son feels safe, and supported and the
results are awesome.
We have taken
kids who want to be veterinarians to the zoo and the Birds of Prey
center, other kids want a puppy so we take them to the Humane
Society, others want to be pro skaters so we go to the skate park
and we’ve gone fishin’, hiking, bow - arrow making, kayaking,
bowling, playing pool and on and on and on. Whatever it takes to
have your son feel like he is awesome … then we listen, council and
empower.
Active sessions
usually last a few hours. We charge the same fee for those few hours
as we do for a 1 hr counseling session … plus activity fee or food
costs.
ALIVE adventure
- BOYS only Camp The following information is a generic overview of the WILD Boys and
COYOTE Boys camps. The WILD camp is 4 days long and the COYOTE camp
is 6 days long. For ease and clarity, we have described the longer
of the two camps. They follow similar itineraries and themes.
These are not
normal camps … they are designed to help our boys transition from
Little Boy to BIG Boy and BIG Boy to Young Man. Therefore, there are
fun and adventurous activities woven into the underlying empowerment
teachings. Group dynamics work in interesting ways, first they
“storm”, then they “form” then they “norm”. Teen-Peer groups are
extreme and do this Storm – Form – Norm in an extreme way. Who would
think any different, they are pre-teens and teens and they are
searching for their independence. On their quest for freedom, the
average boy will try slippery ways to get to understand things and
sometimes challenge the ‘system’ to do that. This is why we call our
youth camp WILD Camp and the teen camps the Coyote Camps. Coyote
means trickster, trickster means teen and teens are Coyotes.
So, we set up
this camp in a way that the group can naturally ‘storm’, then
‘form’, and then ‘norm’. Here are the steps. . . Day one, the teens
play some Ice-Breaker and Get to know You games and then they dive
into the river and raft down some of the best Class III – IV
whitewater in the area. After spish-splash and river-runnin’, we
will head to the campsite. On day II, we will head up to the Ropes
Course or other activities and indulge into teambuilding –
communication – risk-taking – challenging – adventure. After the
‘challenge’ we will head back to the camp and cook a Dutch-oven
meal. On day III, we will load up our backpacks and head off into
the Idaho Wilderness. We will find some rivers and maybe a lake or
two to spend the next 4 days exploring, learning, crafting,
laughing, fighting, throwing tomahawks, shootin’ bows, wilderness
survival skills, rock jumping, swimming, playing and experiencing
how to be “effective” teens.
On day, 5, we
will spend most of the day preparing for and being involved in a
Journey to Manhood seminar and preparing for some ‘solo’ time. Solo
time is a time of introspection … a quiet time, where the youth can
evaluate what he/she has learned and make some new agreements with
themselves on how to be a stronger, more healthy teen.
Day 6 will be
an adventure back to base-camp and a “family celebration”. This is
where the families will join us and discuss to celebrate and talk
some about communication styles, trust issues, gender differences,
generation gaps and learn more life skills to enhance the family.
ALIVE adventure Camp brochure
BOYS in the FIRE journey
Brochure
One – on – One
– Rites of Passage – Vision Quests
Rites of Passage brochure
The RITE - of -
PASSAGE journey Years of
working with nature, human development, youth, adventure, personal
leadership, Vision Quest guiding and life have lead to this
experience. The Rites of Passage journey is one of the most powerful
and defiantly the most important journeys that an individual will
experience.
The goal is to
give young men an opportunity to transition from boy to man This is
a big statement, and it is ‘the purpose’ of this endeavor. In our
culture, there are few events that take place that gives our youth
this 'rite'. Many times, we just cruise through life, expecting the
everyday activities of life to teach our boys how to become stronger
and happier men. In many cultures past, the rite of passage into
adulthood was one of the most important aspects of growing up.
Today, we find ourselves waiting around hoping something will assist
our youth to change...to change to what? How will it turn out? Why
did we have to wait for this crisis to show up before we acted? And
on and on and on...
What is being
offered here, is an intentional and direct process that will assist
our boys to become men. This is a long process, takes years ... AND
when we begin, we begin with a search for power. This power is what
will burn inside of our hearts. This power will guide us and be part
of the foundation of our journey through adult-hood. We begin with a
Rite-of-Passage journey in the wilderness. An outer-journey and an
inner-adventure of the self in a quest for power.
In the past,
the elders of the community would "yank" the youth out of their
everyday life, let them know that "it is time to die" (as a child)
and send them off into the wilderness in quest of a “vision”. "Do
not come home, until you know your place here with us" is what was
said. Then the youth would spend an undetermined amount of time
'thinking about' what is important and how they choose to cooperate
with people and the village...the youth would seek a vision and only
return when they found it.
Well, here we
are in the 21st century, not quite ready to ‘yank’ our sons into the
wild lands all alone... but we are in search of ways to give him an
opportunity to grab their power! So what do we do?
We have created
two different types of Rite-of-Passage journeys… one is a group
outing called the BOYS in the FIRE and one is a custom designed Rite
of Passage where the boy and the guide go out in the wilderness for
8-15 days. Both programs have their specialties … Both are Powerful
and Both are LIFE-Changing.
We have
developed a 7-step process to bring a young boy into his manhood.
The steps are as follows …
-
Preparation –
-
Acknowledgement –
-
Separation
-
Self Discovery –
-
Silence –
-
Initiation –
-
Integration and Celebration.
During the BOYS
in the FIRE group program, boys will be taken out for six strait
days, for a Rites-of-Passage journey in the Idaho Wilderness. . We
will learn how to live with the land, the natural flow of things,
how to communicate with peers and parents, how to step beyond ones
current thoughts and make new choices and most of all how to
transition from a big boy to a young man.
During the One-on-One Custom designed Rite of Passage journey, the
initiate and the Vision Quest guide will travel to a desolate spot
in the “Wilds of the West”. In the past, we have gone to the Grand
Canyon (Arizona), Leslie Gulch (Oregon), Peace Valley (Idaho),
Flaming Gorge (Utah), Havasupai Canyon (Arizona), Snake River Canyon
(Idaho), Little Jacks Creek (Idaho), South Mountain (Arizona) and …
This solo adventure is intense and effective. These solo journeys
are designed and woven into the individual family dynamics and
beliefs.
Each Rite of Passage - Vision Quest is as uniquely different as each
boy is.
During both programs, we will teach and facilitate from the
earth-based indigenous cultures and learn about the Cycles of Life,
the Medicine Wheel (4 elements, the 4 directions, the 4 seasons, the
4 R's and the 4 agreements).
The 4 elements - Air (breathing), Water (flow), Earth (grounded ness)
Fire (passion)
The 4 directions- East - Spring (new beginnings) South - Summer
(long days) West - Fall (reaping the harvest) North - Winter
(introspection and hibernation)
The 4 agreements are the theme of each day … Day one, "Be Impeccable
with your word...Always tell the truth", Day two, " Never assume
anything" always ask questions, Day three "Never take anything
personally" and Day four "Always do your best". The boys will do
work to understand these concepts.
The 4 R's is a process that the parents and the boys will work on
throughout the journey. We will work with Resentments, Regrets,
Respects and Requests that are in our lives.
We will teach the boys wilderness survival skills and how to live in
nature... How to make fire from sagebrush…how to set traps for
food…how to make shelters hike and camp. We may also rock climb,
whitewater raft and a variety of other challenging activities, but
we will not know until the time when the opportunity seizes us.
We will review our youth, find our pattern of success, think of
things that we want to be forgiven for, forgive others, plan out our
transition into adulthood.
We will learn new communication skills via the council circle and
the parents and teens will learn a new way to communicate with each
other.
We will also work on new agreements that we want to create between
parents and ourselves and them work them out with our parents.
We will do some Native American activities, games and ceremonies. We
will build teamwork amongst each other, learn to trust each other
and work as one together.
Each of these day long activities is building for the final
"journey" at the end of the program which will be a Rite of Passage
process including a Vision Quest (a time of silence).
The boys will spend their time in nature, using the skills that they
have been learning, thinking about their life, past-present-future,
connect with their WILD side, sit in silence and prepare for
initiation.
If it is your son who is going through this ‘Rite’, during
initiation, the fathers and possibly other male mentors (depending
on family location) of the boys will be involved. A sweat lodge
ceremony will be used as initiation rite for the boys. Following the
initiations, there will be a celebration with the family and
friends.
There is much more to this process. This is a once in a lifetime
opportunity and I am honored to share it with you, your son and your
family.
The fee for the BOYS in the FIRE 6 day journey is $1,500 plus
supplies, per family. The fee for the individual custom designed
Rite of Passage journeys ranges from $300-500 per day plus travel
and supplies.
Now is the time to give your boys the power to become men so they
can Claim their Power, Find their Passions and Live their Purpose !
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