SUWS Wilderness Therapy Programs Empower Girls

Interview with Megan Lynott

Counselor Megan Lynott works with teenage girls who do not want to be in counseling, much less camping in the desert wilderness of Idaho.

"I would say that 99% of the girls who come to SUWS don't want to be there," she acknowledged during a recent interview. "But by the end of their wilderness experience, many of them don't want to go home."

Megan Lynott holds a master's degree in transpersonal counseling psychology from Naropa University in Colorado. Her current challenge is to help young girls, ages 13 to 18 years, who enroll in the short-term SUWS wilderness experience, as they come to grips with their "issues" and learn new ways of coping. Many have deep-rooted problems with defiance, opposition, rebellion, running away, and substance abuse. Their lives have often spun out of control.

SUWS girls spend four to nine weeks hiking and camping in the desert wilderness. It is a chance for introspection and change. Being in a group offers a chance to learn new ways of relating to others. Working with Ms. Lynott helps them resolve old issues and learn new skills of coping with life.

Yet the majority of the girls initially do not want to accept the help their parents are giving them through SUWS, Ms. Lynott said.

"They may come from privileged homes. Their lives may be about clothes with the right designer labels, hairstyles and makeup, boys and cell phones. All of a sudden they are out in the desert without all their distractions," she said.

The girls have to learn to survive by mastering skills that primitive people use: how to build a fire by rubbing sticks together, how to make shelter, how to read the weather, and so forth.

As they face the challenges of nature, all their old patterns of thought and behavior collapse.

"Their facades and their layers fall away in the desert," Ms. Lynott said. "At that point, they become open to change. They start getting real in their communications. They become willing to accept the help that's being offered to them."

Ms. Lynott uses metaphors in her work with teens. When a girl must take great pains to assemble a stone-drop animal trap, she reveals how much patience and stamina she has. How she relates to the others in her group often is a metaphor about how she relates at home. Ms. Lynott helps each girl through individual therapy to see and understand her part in "unwell systems" of family and peers.

A crucial moment in the emotional journey of an SUWS girl is when she begins to feel and release her pain. Usually she has been "medicating and numbing" herself with drugs, drinking, by having sex, running away, or even through too much television or Internet messaging with friends (known as IM-ing). Whatever the former "pain killer" was, it is not available in the desert. The old distractions that kept her from dealing with her issues are gone. At that point, she feels her pain. Ms. Lynott is there to make sure that the teen is not overwhelmed by it as she teaches her how to let it go.

Emotional pain comes from any number of sources: basic attachment issues, social isolation, family and peer relationships, depression, and school failure are common ones. Each person is different and requires a unique approach.

Just as a girl learns to take care of herself in primitive surroundings, she also learns to take care of herself emotionally. She learns to speak up for her needs and to communicate with other people. She finally understands that her old behaviors are what brought her to SUWS, and she takes responsibility for those past choices.

Ms. Lynott says wilderness therapy is not about analyzing a person or breaking her down emotionally. It is about helping her grow through positive attention and by acquiring new skills.

The SUWS experiences has three phases. First, a SUWS girl must learn to function on her own. Then she learns to function as a member of a group. By the end of her experience, she is transcending into being of service to others.

Ms. Lynott believes that the SUWS experience is extremely empowering for young girls. On a fundamental level, it is liberating to know that you can take care of yourself in primitive conditions. It is empowering to learn that you can be alone and not be lonely.

The openness to new experience and to the benefits of therapy is also empowering. Girls who formerly were caught up in self-destructive patterns begin to find themselves and set goals for their lives.

"My job is incredibly rewarding," Ms. Lynott said. "I am continually amazed by the courage and resilience of these girls. I am touched that so many take their desert experience with them and remain empowered and open to change. Their openness expands over longer periods of time: it can bring lasting healing and empowerment."