Grieving Teens Expeditions

Course price reflects reduced tuition made possible through the generous support of our donors and the Leadership support of The New York Life Foundation. Additional need based scholarships are available. To learn more about additional need based scholarships, click here. 

Grieving Teens expeditions are designed to help students build confidence and resiliency, acquire coping skills and create a network of ongoing of support. The grief work that is woven into the curriculum helps young people share in a relevant healing experience with real-world outcomes. And in a time and space set aside just for them, grieving teens realize they are not alone.

• Build core skills: Instructors provide students with hands-on training on expedition and personal skills. As they learn to live and travel together, students create an inclusive, supportive crew, sharing through discussion circles and grief rituals.
• Practice Outward Bound values: Students learn to incorporate Outward Bound values into everyday life by pushing their own limits and seeking challenge as an opportunity for personal growth and healing.
• Process and reflect: Journaling, one-on-one conferences and discussion circles help students understand how Outward Bound successes might translate to coping skills back home.
• Demonstrate mastery: As the course nears the end, students tackle an expedition challenge, and pause to share and honor their losses.
• What you’ll learn: Students return home with healthy support mechanisms and a positive network of peers they can count on in the future. 

Service

Service to others and to our environment is a core value of Outward Bound and is integrated into each course. Groups follow Leave No Trace ethics as they engage in acts of service while leading and supporting fellow participants. Students see the impact of their actions firsthand, and may develop a desire to continue service in their home communities.

Solo

In order for profound learning to take place, students spend time reflecting on their experience, and Solo is that opportunity. The Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. With sufficient food and equipment, students will set up camp at sites of their own, using the wilderness skills learned during the first portions of the course. The amount of time students spend on Solo is based on course length, weather, student condition, age, and Instructor preference. Solo campsites are chosen to offer as much solitude as possible (yet be within emergency whistle-signaling distance of other group members). Most students spend their Solo time journaling, drawing, reflecting, thinking and resting as they process lessons of the course to focus on their goals for the future. Instructors check on each participant at regular intervals, as safety is always a top priority.

Outcomes

Outward Bound promotes character development, leadership, and service in the most engaging classroom possible … the wilderness. In real time, students experience the effects of their decisions on themselves and the other members of their group as they work to complete difficult tasks necessary for wilderness travel. Instructors challenge students to try new things and step outside their comfort zones. They also provide feedback that students implement on course and when they return to their communities.