Welcome to the quarterly newsletter for Discovery Ranch. We’re pleased to offer news and information to enhance your family’s DR experience. In the coming months you’ll see updates on programs, information about our staff, relationship helps and parenting tips from respected authors and speakers. We also welcome your contributions. Please give us your feedback at editor@discoveryranch.net
Blue sky, fresh snow and three miles of trails combine to create one of Megan Stotts's favorite therapy settings. She's spent the winter taking Discovery Ranch students on weekly cross country skiing trips near Sundance ski resort in Provo Canyon.
"For most of the students it's their first time cross country skiing. "It's a different feeling than downhill skiing," she says. A 2008 graduate of the University of Utah, Megan says recreational therapy is a big part of teaching students to develop coping skills and healthy lifestyles. "Instead of using drugs or drinking, we teach them to go and do something positive like snowboarding or biking. For me personally, if I'm having a rough day, what's better than releasing those endorphins and getting your anxiety, stress or fear out through recreation? By the time I'm done I feel so much better."
Students leave the ranch about nine in the morning with a sack lunch and plenty of warm clothes. The Ranch rents ski equipment on site and the trail system is part of a groomed cross country ski area. By the time students finish in the late afternoon they are tired and happy.
As the Ranch's new therapeutic recreation specialist, Megan says she loves working with the students in a variety of recreational settings, including weekly ropes course activities.
"On the ropes course, we put students in situations that are difficult. "It pushes them a little bit," she explains. "That's when emotions are brought out. They can choose to handle it in a positive way or a negative way." Megan adds, "They may not always be cross country skiing or 30 feet in the air, but the way they handle those challenges is very similar to the way they handle real life."
"I always thought if I went anywhere else it would be the Ranch."
When Jeanette Brown, LCSW, got the chance to join Discovery Ranch's therapy team, she jumped at it.
Jeanette spent almost 16 years working at an adolescent residential treatment center in Provo, Utah. But the Ranch's therapeutic model always appealed to her.
"I like the fact the kids are outside," she says. "They work, they have animals. It's experiential and it's just amazing the amount of therapy that goes on here. This is the best way to work with adolescents."
Jeanette was born near Park City, Utah and spent her growing up years on the family dairy farm in Utah County. She considered going into teaching or coaching but neither field felt quite right.
Then a friend convinced her to come and observe the line staff at a residential treatment center. Jeanette fell in love with the job and the facility's director hired her on the spot.
From there, she worked her way through college earning a Bachelor's degree in social work at Utah State University. Her graduate degree is from New Mexico Highlands University, where she says she loved the cultural diversity of the campus and community. Her graduate studies emphasized trauma and physical and sexual abuse. After earning her degree she went to work for New Mexico's child protective services department.
Jeanette returned home to Utah to work as a therapist for a residential treatment center in Provo, where she also became a licensed substance abuse counselor.
She'll use her experience developing and implementing drug and alcohol programs in her new position at Discovery Ranch, where she combines a mixture of education, process and relapse prevention groups, including the Hazelden Workbook and individualized 12 Step programs.
Although she moved to the ranch last year, you probably won’t find her in her office. "If it's a nice day and not freezing outside then we're outside," she says, explaining her approach to individual therapy. "We're walking and talking and playing with horses or calves."
There's one more thing Jeanette and her clients are doing - carving. "I love to carve!" she says with a laugh. So she teaches her students wood carving skills while they learn life skills.
She's provided each of her clients a walking stick made from aspen. None of students are allowed to carve until they have learned knife safety basics and can demonstrate they are not a threat to themselves or others.
"Every student's stick is different," Jeanette explains. "They're making a stick that represents them. Some will have carvings on them. Some have objects like music notes, butterflies, things that they really like. They stencil them on sometimes and then wood burn around them and paint them."
Jeanette believes the carving is a form of unique therapy all its own. As they work, students not only have the benefit of talking with her as their therapist, but they also have a chance to think about their behaviors and the changes they should be making.
As the carving reveals the wood's hidden beauty, the counseling helps students discover their own inner strengths. They feel pride in who they are and what they are creating.
And that, she says, is one of the best parts of her job.
"You can't live your life being all messed up. You've got to change." That's the advice Tim has for potential and current Discovery Ranch students.
He graduated from high school at the ranch in 2009. Since then he's enrolled in a welding program and plans on graduating from his tech school this spring.
When Tim talks about his former life he says, "I was not happy at all. I started getting into drugs and doing bad at school. I was rebelling against everything."
His parents knew he needed help and enrolled him in a wilderness program. While Tim was at wilderness they started looking for the next therapeutic step.
"My dad was up all night reading the Discovery Ranch website," Tim recalls, "but he didn’t really want a school all the way out in Utah." Tim wasn't very happy about being so far from his east coast home either. But after his mother visited the ranch both parents were convinced it was the best choice.
Tim had dogs at home but he'd never had the responsibility of caring for calves or doing other ranch chores. "It was something totally new," he says. "And it was neat to be doing things and then realize it was helping you."
The ranch is where Tim had his first exposure to welding. "I saw someone welding for part of a student's FAM (Forget About Me) project," he remembers. It looked interesting and he decided to go to welding school after graduation.
"I was really focused on school while I was at the ranch," he recalls. "School was a lot easier for me. I’m not one to just sit in a class and have someone lecture. At the ranch you work at your own pace. When I was home I had so many distractions. When I got to the ranch my main focus was to graduate from high school. I just buckled down and did what I needed to do."
Tim says he learned more than just academics. "I learned a whole lot about myself. I learned what I am capable of doing." He also says that DBT training helped. "They drill it into your head," he says with a laugh. "When you leave you think, 'I'm never going to use this,' but then you realize you're using it without even knowing it."
Tim says he's a different young man these days. He's been sober for more than 15 months, no small feat for a young adult who lives in a college town where he says drugs are everywhere. "You have to be a strong person and say I can't," he says. "Good friends help a lot."
Does he have any advice for parents? "My parents were really supportive of everything in my life. Don't give up on your kids."
After weeks of construction, Discovery Ranch's new academic area and main office are open. Executive Director Clinton Dorny says the academic remodel is a much more efficient approach to learning. "It's better to have all the people and resources closer together," he notes.
Construction on new classrooms for the girls and a parent conference room started in November. Old office space near the cafeteria was converted to make room for the new facility. Students have a shared library and concept room, with separate classrooms for boys and girls.
"With learning areas consolidated in the same building we're able to have greater numbers of staff present and that means more one on one learning for students," Clinton explains. Teachers say having all the academic facilities in one building increases their opportunities for student interaction as well.
To make way for the new learning space, Discovery Ranch's administrative team moved their offices to newly remodeled meeting space in the front of the barn. Besides offices, the area includes a special conference area for visiting parents and educational consultants.
"Our team is always looking for ways to be more organized and efficient," Clinton says. "Now we're close enough that we can communicate easily and still offer our guests the kinds of services that make their visit even more comfortable."
