Tami Ann is an aspiring writer working on a book about her experiences of being a parent of a teen who went to a wilderness therapy program. Tami shares her journey into the wilderness field that began when her teenager was spiraling down in a cycle of depression and drug use.

Brenda Zane is the host of the podcast "Hopestream" and has an online space to help moms with struggling teens. Brenda shares her journey into the wilderness field that began when her teenager was using drugs and she was unable to find a local resource that could make a difference.

Louise Slater is an educational consultant at The Price Group and is the parent of a former wilderness student. Louise shares the story of her family's struggles with different treatment options before deciding to place their son in a wilderness therapy program in Georgia in 2004.

Josh Flaherty is Executive Director of Adventure Recovery (AR). Josh's love for adventure began as a child when he traveled to national parks with his family. After college, he pursued a path as a rock band manager, including Motley Crue. Although successful, he struggled with addiction.

In this second controversies episode, we explore the history of more controversies related to the field. We review the history of staff training and wages for field guides. We explore why programs are expensive and discuss resources to help families pay for treatment.

In this special two-part episode, we explore the history of controversies related to the field. Part 1 has five segments. We discuss the outdoor aspect of wilderness therapy and how did it all begin. We review boot camps and wilderness therapy and why they are often confused.

Jessica Dallman is the founder of Natural Wisdom Counseling.  Jessica's journey into the field began at a young age by being raised by veterinarian parents and growing up on a rural vet clinic. Jessica would take a "transformational" Outward Bound course in high school and would go on to attend college, teaching deaf people on a Navajo reservation, and then onto Naropa University for a master's degree.

Chaim Livneh, Senior Staff for Juvenile Probation Services for Israel. Chaim's journey into the field started as a child in the U.S. and then to Israel when his family emigrated there when he was a teen. Chaim shares how being in a tank corps helped him to get closer to the wilderness and how he found healing in a greenhouse when he had cancer.

Kenneth R. Rosen is the author of "Troubled: The Failed Promise of America's Behavioral Treatment Programs" and is an award-winning journalist who has written for the New York Times. Ken's journey into the field began as a teen when he was transported to a wilderness program in Upstate New York.

Tony Alvarez is the founder of Alvarez Consulting. Tony's journey into the field starts in the Philippines, where he was born and raised before coming to the U.S. Tony shares his story of being part of social justice in the 1970s to helping marginalized young people in Michigan with adventure work for much of his career.

Aaron Leonard is Campaign Representative for Sierra Club Military Outdoors. He became involved in the field while serving in the U.S. Army when he participated in an Outward Bound for Veterans expedition, which would start a chain of events that would change his life.

Will Dobud is a lecturer at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He is co-editor of the book "Outdoor Therapies" and is the founder of True North Expeditions located in Australia. Will shares his journey into the field that began at age 8 when he agreed to attend summer camp.

Bobbi Beale is Co-founder of Life Adventures for All Consulting which supports programs, agencies, and organizations to achieve their goals for improving the lives of their clients by providing training, consulting and technical assistance to implement Adventure Therapy locally. Bobbi's journey into the field began at a young age as she grew up on her family's campground.

Russell Chamberlain is the founder of LifeSTREAM Therapy located in Portland, OR. LifeSTREAM's motto is "Life Success Through Relationship in Experiential & Adventure Modes." Russell has worked in the field for almost 40 years from being a field guide to a field director to an outpatient clinician.

Dr. Nevin Harper is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria and co-edited the books "Outdoor Therapies" and "Nature Based-Therapies." Nevin shares his journey from being raised in rural Canada to working as a field guide and running wilderness programs. He shares why he decided to become a graduate student in the U.S.

Kim Sacksteder is co-founder of Adventure-Therapist.com and residential clinical supervisor of the adventure therapy program at the Buckeye Ranch in Ohio. Kim shares her journey into the field and how she has worked tirelessly for over 20 years to help the field evolve by volunteering.

Tim Walsh is the founder of Adventure Recovery in CT. Tim's journey into the field started at a young age due to trauma and addiction. Tim shares that in his 20's while in treatment he "walked through fire" to realize that mentors in his life including a mobster, a judge, and a friend's mother had changed the course of his life from going to jail to a path of service.

Emily Isaacs is the founder of Emily Isaacs Counseling in Colorado. Emily's journey into the wilderness therapy field began in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco where she grew up. Emily shares stories including going from being a city kid to a field guide at Open Sky to contributing to diversity in the outdoors as the Executive Director of Women's Wilderness. Emily shares her work with women veterans and the Climbing Grief Project.  Emily has a thriving outpatient wilderness therapy practice.

Patrick McMillion is the Clinical Director of Adventure Works of Dekalb which is a non-profit adventure therapy program located in Illinois. Patrick began his journey into the field at the age of 3 when he vividly recalls camping with his father.

Kimberly Beck is the founder of Relational Rewilding in CO. Kimberly shares that she was obsessed with animals and nature as a child. Her passion grew into facilitating the relationship between people and nature, people and animals, and people and people in various ways. Kimberly has designed and led environmental programs as a Naturalist and a Certified Interpretive Guide.

In celebration of the 100th episode of Stories from the Field, Dr. Will White, tells his story about how he became involved in wilderness therapy and how the Stories from the Field podcast, book, and dissertation came into being.  He shares how his family, scouting, college professors, and Buddhist teachers led him to the path of wilderness therapy. He reveals how he became involved in starting Summit Achievement in 1996 when there were no other wilderness therapy programs on the east coast.

Daniel Fishburn is the Executive Director of SUWS of the Carolina's. Daniel shares his journey into wilderness therapy, which first began in 1987 when he worked as staff at Wediko, a therapeutic summer camp. After college, he did human rights work in El Salvador and went on to get his M.S.W.

Madhurii Barefoot, Co-founder, and Co-owner of True North Wilderness in Vermont. Mod was born and raised in Vermont and went to boarding school, where she was first exposed to wilderness expeditions. Mod would pursue the path of wilderness via a gap year at NOLS.

Thom Pollard is an Emmy award-winning Director of Photography and Filmmaker who has filmed from Easter Island to the summit of Mount Everest and everything in between. His adventure photographs have appeared in numerous books and publications, including National Geographic.  Thom shares his fascinating story of why spending time on high-risk wilderness expeditions is a therapeutic process for him and what drives him to continue to return to Mount Everest year after year.

Anson McNulty is the Operations Director and Co-Owner of Summit Achievement. Anson grew up in New York City, and at a young age, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and sent to boarding school for teens with learning disabilities, where he first experienced the outdoors.

Tim McMahon and Jason Cox are co-owners of Brightstone Transitions, a Young Adult Transitional Program. They met over a decade ago in Georgia when Tim was directing a state-funded wilderness therapy program, and Jason showed up late for a job interview dressed in a suit and tie.

Sarah Gallimore is a field guide at Elements Wilderness Therapy.  Sarah grew up in New Hampshire and went to the UNH for college, which is where she learned about wilderness therapy. Sarah shares how helping out with an AEE Accreditation review in Utah was when she realized that she wanted to be a field guide in a wilderness therapy program in Utah.

Samuel Adams, Lead Field Guide at Aspiro Adventures. Sam grew up in the Adirondacks region of New York with a family who embraced the outdoors.  In high school, he became a father and struggled to handle it.  He grew through the struggle and became connected with wilderness therapy in college.

Norman Elizondo is the Family Wellness Counselor at Open Sky. Norman's journey into the wilderness field began when his dying mother encouraged him to leave his finance career and "do something that would really help people."

Doug Dobkowski is a Team Leader at Summit Achievement.  Doug grew up in New Jersey and went on to get a teaching degree in college. Doug worked as a middle school teacher for eight years in Newark. He shares his story of how he began an Outing Club at the middle school, which inspired him to become an outdoor leader.

Zhenda Glover is a field guide at Evoke Cascades located in Oregon.  She was born and raised in Bulgaria and had never heard the two words "wilderness' and "therapy" put together until she moved to Oregon.  Zhenda became enamored with wilderness therapy after attending a field guide orientation at Evoke and has been committed to the field ever since.  Zhenda was recognized for her outstanding field guide service at Evoke at the 2019 Wilderness Therapy Symposium, where she was a Jumping Mouse recipient.

Rachel Rollins is a therapist at Juniper Canyon Recovery Center in Utah. She first learned about wilderness therapy when she was enrolled in a program as a teen which is where she first learned to "love self and wilderness." After graduating from the University of Vermont, Rachel traveled the world but felt unsatisfied until she returned to the wilderness field.

L. Jay Mitchell is one of the elders in the field of wilderness therapy as he co-founded the School of Urban and Wilderness Survival (SUWS) in Idaho and Alldredge Academy in West Virginia. SUWS was the first for-profit, private pay primitive skills wilderness therapy program in the U.S.

John Conway  was the chair of the Outdoor Behavioral Council during a time of rapid growth. He grew up in Illinois and wanted to work in wilderness therapy but thought he would have to move away from Chicago to get a job in the field.

Emily (Jonesie) Jones spent every summer of her childhood living at a summer camp that her parents worked at.  After college, she worked at a farm and traveled all over, including South America. Jonesie shares the fascinating story of being in Peru and participating in a ceremony that changed the course of her life.