Company Description

Lying beneath the bright, desert stars

after an eventful day of hiking, learning to build fire with sticks, building a shelter and cooking his/her own meals over a camp fire, your child will experience a feeling that is largely unknown to many youth today.

Due to the onslaught of technology, many youth spend their waking hours in front of a computer screen or on a hand-held device, texting, gaming and surfing endlessly. Too many youth today have developed a dependency to being entertained by their technology and have lost the ability to manage the emotional demands of the lives without escaping into technology.


With skilled outdoor specialists guiding them, the youth spend five days learning how to experience the remote, high desert of Southern Utah with only the supplies they can strap to their back. Being unplugged from ALL technology and outside communication provides a strong "wake up call moment" for the youth to focus and take responsibility for all aspects of their well-being including cooking, caring for their supplies and learning to use only the elements of the desert to live.


Participants are guided by a team of highly skilled clinical therapists who share more than 55 years of experience guiding youth and their families to successful resolution of their issues.


The wilderness has a way of naturally disrupting the resistance that teens and young adults have to talking about the issues with which they struggle. Under these conditions, participants are able to find new perspective and begin a focused, purposeful journey to make the changes needed to improve their lives.


Successful completion of a five day expedition becomes a building block for the development of healthy coping skills and learning how to face life challenges rather than medicate, avoid or run from them.
We don't believe in a "one-sided" therapeutic approach ... with the Family Bootcamp - parents are involved too. So, while the youth are experiencing the wilderness, parents remain in St. George and participate in an intensive two day "Parenting Boot Camp." Under the direction of Daniel Sanderson, Ph.D., parents engage in two days of comprehensive parent training sessions focused on the discovery and disruption of unhealthy family dynamics. Much of the instruction is provided by Dr. Sanderson (Doc Dan), who has become one of the nation's premier Parenting Therapist's, Trainer & Coach.


For the past twenty years, Dr. Sanderson (Doc Dan) has conducted thousands of hours of seminars for parents who are struggling with their teens. He is the author of the "Developmental Vacation (TM)" treatment model which provides parents with a unique and completely "out of the box" approach for conceptualizing teen behavior. This approach is important to the parent being able to gain a better understanding of their role as parents and how they will need to disrupt their child's developmental vacation.

Topics covered in the two day parent seminar include but not limited to:

-Understanding the Developmental Vacation model.

-Tools for assessing your child's development.

-Tools for assessing your capacity as a parent.

-Determining your child's need for on-going treatment.

-Identifying markers of progress in your child.

-Communication Improvement Strategies

Products & Services

Family Bootcamp ,   Two-Day Intensive Parent Seminar ,   parent seminar ,   Wilderness Expedition for Teens ,   individual, group and family therapy sessions ,   wilderness expedition ,   Individual, Group and Family Therapy Sessions for Teens and Parents