Pure Life Adventure in Costa Rica is pleased to announce that they are accepting applications for an Adolescent Adventure Therapy Group which launches on April 13th, 2020. Pure Life began the process of expanding programming to adolescents in August of 2020 when Allan Capp joined the staff as the new Program Director. Allan’s long experience with adolescent adventure therapy as both a front line staff and a program developer has allowed Pure Life to scale their successful young adult model down to an adolescent student group. The adolescents will be based at a new mountain-top site close to the existing young adult base. Ten adolescents will be working with therapeutic and field staff who are dedicated and trained to work with the clinical, social, and developmental needs of this specific group.
"Pure Life is the only treatment option for adolescents that can provide this out of the box therapeutic opportunity. Our students are immersed in a Spanish speaking culture, participate in community service and cultural homestays, develop leadership skills through grand adventures, all with the strong therapeutic foundation and student-to-staff ratios that are necessary for a struggling teen," said Carrie Weatherhead LCSW, Director of Admissions. "Pure Life’s dynamic adventure-based activities coupled with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness and equine assisted therapy give our adolescent clients a unique opportunity to work through their mental health difficulties,"
Mara Mueller, LCSW CADC 1, has joined the Pure Life team as the dedicated Adolescent Therapist. With 20 years of clinical experience including therapeutic boarding schools, in and out-patient therapy, hospital emergency departments, and wilderness therapy, Maura brings a wide range of knowledge of working with all gender adolescents in an adventure setting. Mara says, “I’m excited to develop this natural progression to allow teens to partake in the robust programming that Pure Life has offered young adults for the past six years. Along with one-on-one and group therapy, our adolescents will be participating in weekly 5-day adventure activities out in the field to help develop the ability to challenge their body and their mind. Our new adolescent base will also provide opportunities for equine assisted therapy with the horses on base, and a private waterfall which is a perfect location for groups, mindfulness, and skill development.”
Pure Life Adolescents will be utilizing a base day model where Mondays and Tuesdays will be dedicated to individual and group therapy, yoga and mindfulness, life skills classes, social relational work, and equine-assisted therapy at our brand new mountain top location. During adventure itineraries, students will travel away from base from Wednesday through Sunday. These activities will include surfing, rafting, rappelling, sea kayaking, backpacking, cultural homestays, and community service. This model allows students to participate in therapeutic interventions in a highly supervised, safe environment. Pure Life staff partners this strong clinical work with the opportunity to challenge the students' cognitive beliefs and constructs that are holding them back through novel adventure activities.
The adolescent student profile at Pure Life will be all genders, 14 -17 year old with primary diagnoses of anxiety and depression. They might also present with: substance use and abuse, screen and game overuse, executive functioning deficits / learning differences, social challenges and isolation, refusal or disengagement from school, low motivation, entitlement, attachment & adoption issues, body image issues, or trauma. Interested candidates can learn more at https://www.purelifeadventure.com/adventure-therapy/adolescent-program or contact Pure Life at: (801) 896 9490.
About Pure Life Adventure
Pure Life is a clinically integrated Adventure Therapy program that focuses on the treatment of various social, emotional and behavioral challenges in adolescents and young adults. Since its founding in the Fall of 2013, Pure Life has served hundreds of families through the powerful healing nature of Costa Rica coupled with a researched-based adventure therapy model. After successfully serving young adults for the past six years, families and professionals have asked us to provide services for adolescents. We are pleased to open our doors to adolescents ages 14-17 in 2020. These students will be able to heal and grow in the beauty of Costa Rica. Our unique model incorporates: nature, mindfulness, cultural immersion, adventure activities, and community service with the strong foundation of clinical support provided by our licensed Masters-level clinicians.