Summit Achievement now offers a continuum of care model with a seamless transition from Summit Achievement to Summit Traverse.  Summit Achievement will now commit to holding a space for every client entering its wilderness segment in the Summit Traverse program on completion of wilderness.  This will allow clients to keep up on academic work throughout the fall and, perhaps, the whole school year. Summit Achievement adapted in this way due to research, requests by referring professionals and families, as well as responding to novel challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic.  

Summit’s research clearly shows that clients who complete their hybrid-wilderness program benefit from continuing to work with their wilderness therapist in a less structured program, one that has school five days per week and allows them to have week-long home visits to practice their newfound skills.  Summit Achievement’s decision was driven by outcome data which indicated that clients who participated in both Summit Achievement and Summit Traverse had better outcomes at completion of treatment, 6-months, and 1 year after treatment compared to clients who participated only in Summit Achievement. The data sets studied are from parents and students from 2013 to 2020. Summit’s new continuum of care model will set up clients to be more successful upon returning home, to boarding school, or to college. 

Summit Achievement, with its robust academic program that has been an essential ingredient of the program since 1996, has been inundated with calls from referring professionals and families about the need for more academic and therapeutic help for troubled young people as most have not attended classes since March, due to COVID 19. Summit Achievement understands that in these uncertain times it is helpful for parents and young people to minimize transitions and know that they will be in one place for several months working with a consistent team of providers, allowing them the opportunity to practice and refine the skills they learned in our hybrid-wilderness program.  

Summit will still permit clients to do Achievement only, and admissions will still consider Traverse referrals that coming from other wilderness therapy programs. 

About Summit Achievement

Summit Achievement is, and always has been, guided by positive reinforcement and the power of choice. Our outcome-focused program employs effective therapeutic and educational principles. Through the process of engaging therapy, classroom academics and exciting wilderness expeditions, students experience the therapeutic benefits of outdoor adventure-based activities while learning to manage the demands of a more traditional environment. As an intentionally small, owner-operated wilderness therapy program, we serve adolescent boys and girls, ages 13-20, from around the world.