Admissions

Clients are admitted to Medicine Wheel Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time. Medicine Wheel is an open enrollment program. This means that students may begin the program or graduate from the program whenever they are ready.
Every young adult enrolled in the Medicine Wheel wilderness therapy program brings a unique set of circumstances and problems. The one commonality they typically share is the avoidance of the “business of life,” or the developmental hiatus. They expect everyone  around them to compensate for their own lack of responsibility.

Each struggling client differs in his or her system of avoiding responsibility. Consequently, they require an individualized intervention that will help them understand that their previous way of life is no longer beneficial. For this reason, Medicine Wheel emphasizes individual treatment above a predetermined length of stay.

Length of stay is not about when a client finishes a pre-determined amount of work he must do for us. A client finishes the program when he has completed the work he must do for himself.

Because they are clinically complicated, each client progresses at a different rate. It’s important for students to understand their graduation is dependent upon their therapeutic achievements, not simply “waiting out” a pre-determined program length of stay.

Since the program is achievement based, length of stay will vary from person to person. Our goal is to help clients advance to their next developmental level as soon as it is therapeutically wise to do so. We focus on building positive relationships with clients that open the door to therapy. Clinicians and guides serve as mentors and observers, not drill sergeants.

This unconventional approach is based on the quest for therapeutic excellence, not what is convenient. What is best for the client, not what is happening in the marketplace, is at the heart of our open enrollment policy.

 


 

Please explore our website or call an admissions counselor at (800) 898-1244 for additional information about how Medicine Wheel at RedCliff Ascent can help.