The Adirondack Experience makes its way

A center for helping the youth

Story by Tiffany Richards

Photos courtesy of Adirondack Experience

The boy places his right leg on a small ledge of the cliff and holds on. "What am I doing? I can’t do this," he says out loud. He was about to jump the two feet to the ground when he heard a voice say, "Don’t give up. Just trust yourself." One of the counselors smiled at him in encouragement. The 12-year-old nods and proceeds up the cliff.

The Adirondack Experience is a prevention program that helps kids stay out of foster homes or groups homes. This organization has been around since 1990 and has helped 45,000 teenagers since then. Most of the kids come from the northern New York area. The Adirondack Experience is located in Lake Placid, New York.

At risk teens, ages 10 through 18, stay at the Adirondack Experience camp overnight for two weeks then come back a year later for a follow-up stay. The goal of overnight stay is to build trust in relationships, says Executive Director John Marshall. Eight kids maximum are allowed to stay throughout the two weeks at a time. They are allowed to come back again if the referral service allows it, says Marshall. "We’ve had kids come back three to four times." 

"We want them to work better as a team. When they work better as a team, they work better as a family."

The Adirondack Experience blends traditional counseling with an outward bound approach. They do high and low ropes courses, rock climbing, ice climbing, rappelling, hiking, canoeing, camping, and other outdoor activities. Parents get worried about what their kids are doing, says Marshall. Yet the teens get nervous, too. There have been many kids who just couldn’t do it, he says. Most kids would try, but success is attempting things not necessarily completing things, he adds. "Our job is to encourage them to push themselves," says Marshall. He thinks it’s very important for kids to work together and communicate. "We want them to work better as a team. When they work better as a team, they work better as a family." There’s also a counseling component to the program.

"We teach kids how to behave in school and how to deal with peers and authoritative figures," says Marshall. The counselors also do tutorials every morning and individual and group counseling. Kids open up more during these sessions, he says. When it comes to shy kids, the counselors try to engage them in activities or have one-on-one conversations with them. "By doing things with them, we help kids who are shy. It’s all about family, it’s all about relationships," Marshall says. With loud kids, the counselors try to point out that certain behaviors are not acceptable. The counselors explain the consequences of the teen’s aggressive behavior and how it affects their life.          

AE’s counselors try to help kids with questions about issues like sex, drugs, STDs, AIDS, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, smoking, and value clarification. "Those are the kind of kids we work with," says Marshall. If a child is using drugs, they try to influence them to make a healthier choice, says Marshall. The kids cannot use drugs during this program. "We blend those two interventions." he adds when referring to traditional counseling and the outward bound approach.

AE also has a follow-up program called Aftercare. This program is when kids come back for a three-day reunion. During these reunions, kids do activities that they weren’t able to do when they were first there, says Marshall. Counselors go to the child’s homes to check up on their school progress, how their home life is going, the relationships in the community, and any regression or progress the teen may have. "Usually, we see improvement," says Marshall. The teens can call AE’s 800 number crisis line at any time. Marshall, contact person for the number, refers people to who they want to speak to which is usually at night when no one’s working. "We provide support for them," he says.

The daily life of a teen that stays at AE is waking up in the morning then taking a shower. Next is breakfast, and then they do homework, says Christina, counselor at AE. The next activity is they go to counseling and go to lunch afterwards. They do an outward bound activity which varies each day and then they have dinner. Finally, they have free time to do whatever and go to bed.

Seth Kiser, counselor at AE, says he enjoys working with people and helping them realize that someone cares about them. "That’s what I enjoy about this job," he adds.

Kaysie Brybh, another counselor, says one of her greatest experiences at AE is seeing a kid with no self-confidence on the high ropes course begin to feel good about themselves. "That’s like the coolest part about our job," she says. Brybh, who has worked there for a year, says "I love just getting to hang out with kids, getting to know them, watching them push themselves and be successful." It’s all about the kids here, she adds.

“They come here to get a greater sense of independence.”

AE also accepts blind kids into care. Visually impaired children are treated the same way as others, but with some special care. "We don’t focus on the problems of visually impaired kids," says Marshall. "They come here to get a greater sense of independence." These kids usually come during the summer and many come from New York City.

School, church, and corporate groups also come during the day to enjoy AE’s activities. School groups from all over the area come by a few times a year, says Marshall. All groups must schedule a few months or a year ahead of time. AE accepts all corporations. "Any kind of corporation that wants to learn to do team building," he says.      

The purpose of the program is to build trust, self-esteem, self-confidence, problem solving skills, and communication skills, says Marshall. The children come from homes may be abusive or have neglectful parents. They also maybe are having difficulty in school. They may be depressed, or they may get into trouble in the community.

"It’s our hope that they will become more self-confident, trusting of adults and peers, have greater hope of their future, and improve their coping skills."

Have you ever had an adventure on a high ropes course?