Things are moving along nicely...

A few days back I got off my second shift in the field with Second Nature. My last shift was just as challanging as the one before that but in diffenert ways. This last shift O was working with G6, it is made up entirely of male teenagers ages fourteen to seventeen, its a rather intense demographic if i do say so my self. Every one of these kids is struggling with some very real issues, and even though I am no longer new to this program, it never ceases to amaze me how them being out here in the wilderness really is the only thing that will get through to these kids.

This last shift was fairly easy and this was in large part due to the fact that G6 was supposed to be on solo for a good chunk of the week. Now Solo for our program is a little different then others on the account that a lot of the clients of Second Nature are here as Minors, and thus they are not here on their own accord. this means that some of them are a flight risk, so much so that they have to call their names while going to the bathroom, so a Solo is not the right choice for all clients.
This decision falls in the end to the therapist that is in charge of each group. He/she gets to choose who will be on solo and who will be staying in the camp. They also decide what want the clients to while on this solo time. Then it is up to the staff to run everything.
solos can be anywhere from two to four days. I can be a very interesting and time consuming experience for these boys.
This week half the group was out for two days and three nights. Staff did rounds every two hours and ran groups with the other half that was still left. It was a good experience for all that were involved including staff. Solos are normally a very stressful time on the account of the amount of work that staff has to do. On the account that there was still half of the group in camp we were able to delegate the days normal chores back on to them. These boys learned the good feeling one can get when doing acts of service. They took care of all the cooking and camp chores between he four of them.
When the rest of the group came off solo it was time to spend some time debriefing all of the assignments that they had been given, then it was time to move for only the second time of the week.
Lucky for us the rain that we had gotten while on solo cooled the entire high desert down so it was down right pleasant hiking weather
the rest of the shift finished out nicely and I have to say that I am looking forward to seeing what my next shift will bring.
In till next week
cheers all
td